Alex Petriashvili “stable” after shooting, visited by Interior Minister

Opposition leader Alex Petriashvili is in a stable condition, recovering in hospital after being shot three times yesterday in a brutal attack in Tbilisi.

Today Georgia’s Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Mgebrishvili visited the ex-cabinet Minister and current co-leader of opposition Free Democrats party in hospital.

Petriashvili, who sustained three gunshot wounds and a head injury after being attacked by several assailants, remained in intense care at Republican Hospital in Tbilisi.

Mgebrishvili said the investigation into the shooting was in full swing and he hoped the offenders would be identified and punished.

"I don’t want to reveal any information in advance. However I will say immediately after the incident we directed most of our resources to investigating this case,” the Minister said.

"I hope the case will not remain unsolved and the offenders will be properly punished.”

The United States Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly commented on the shooting and urged everyone to stay calm and wait for the investigation.

"I know Alex. He is a very smart person and a great supporter of Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration. I hope a fair investigation will be held into the case and the offenders, whoever they are, will be brought to justice,” the Ambassador said.

"I’m encouraging everyone to keep calm and let the investigation be held.”

The attack took place about 1pm yesterday when Petriashvili, Georgia's ex-State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration (2012-2014) and one of the leaders of the parliamentary opposition Free Democrats (FD) party, visited the grave of his friend Levan Mikeladze at the Saburtalo Pantheon Memorial Cemetery, Tbilisi.

Petriashvili was accompanied at the cemetery by three friends when several unidentified people physically assaulted and shot him, announced Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Doctors said he suffered three gunshot wounds, two in the lower legs and one in his back. He also sustained a head injury allegedly caused by a blunt object.

Petriashvili underwent emergency surgery yesterday afternoon shortly after the incident.

As of this afternoon, Petriashvili was still in intense care but his doctor said if his situation remained stable, as it was now, he would be taken to a ward later today.

The doctor added there was no risk Petriashvili would be paralysed even though one bullet remain lodged in his back, very close to one of his kidneys.

Shortly after the incident Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said what happened was deplorable and unacceptable and the country’s law enforcement agencies would "spare no effort to investigate the case in the shortest time, to arrest the criminals and to ensure their appearance in court”.

Co-leader of the Free Democrats party Irakli Alasania said he believed the statements of the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister that the case would be impartial and solved as quickly as possible.