European People’s Party concerned opposition TV channel co-founder Rurua remains imprisoned
President of the European People’s Party Donald Tusk urged the Georgian Dream government to ‘fully abide by the March 8 election agreement.’ Photo: EPA.
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The European People’s Party (EPP) is concerned that the co-founder of Georgian opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua remains in prison, the president of the party and former head of the European Council Donald Tusk said.
EPP welcomed the March 8 Agreement between Georgia’s Government and opposition as a key step to reduce tensions. We remain concerned that Giorgi Rurua is still in prison. We call for full implementation of the Agreement and Rurua’s release.
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtuskEPP) June 17, 2020
EPP is partnered with the Georgian United National Movement opposition party.
Earlier this month a Georgian court once again refused bail for Rurua, who was charged with the illegal possession of firearms.
The opposition says that Rurua’s imprisonment is a threat to the ruling party and the opposition March 8 election agreement mediated by the diplomatic corps.
The opposition claims that the ruling party ‘accepted the release’ of Rurua, together with opposition leaders Gigi Ugulava and Irakli Okruashvili in the March 8 agreement. However, the ruling party denies this.
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The opposition says that if Rurua remains in prison, they will not vote for the constitutional changes for the 2020 parliamentary elections per the March 8 agreement.
They say that Rurua ‘is being deliberately discredited,’ referring to the accusations of Tamar Toradze, a woman of Georgian origin with US citizenship, who says that Rurua killed seven of her family members back in the 1990s.
The ruling party says that the government never interferes in the issues of the judiciary.