The Embassy of Germany to Georgia says that the Federal Prosecution of Germany used ‘unclear phrasing when it called the Georgian government ‘pro-Russian’ in the statement related to the murder of Georgian citizen of Chechen origin Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin.
German Ambassador to Georgia Hubert Knirsch said that the wording ‘pro-Russian’ was how Khangoshvili characterised the Georgian government and not the Federal Prosecution of Germany, adding that the agency should have been more clear in the statement.
He stated that German law enforcement agencies did not intend to characterise the Georgian government in any way, expressing worries that the wording sparked speculations and misinterpretation.
The statement released by the German embassy said that Georgia is a ‘reliable partner of NATO and the EU.’
German MEP Viola von Cramon tweeted that German prosecutor’s office ‘chose words unfortunately when characterising the Georgian government as pro-Russian.’
????????Georgian officials thankfully averted one more murder in #Tbilisi allegedly ordered by #kadyrov. EU should help more its neighbors in fighting such heinous crimes. German prosecutor’s office chose words unfortunately when characterizing Georgian government as “pro-Russian”
— Viola von Cramon (@ViolavonCramon) June 18, 2020
The German Prosecutor’s Office indicted a suspect for killing Khangoshvili in Berlin last year, stating that Russian central governmental federal offices put out the hit on Khangoshvili, which was carried out by Russian citizen Vadim K. in August 2019.
The text of the indictment mentions that the background of the murder was linked with “the victim’s opposition to the Russian central government, authorities of the Chechen and Ingush Republics [autonomous republics of the Russian Federation], and the pro-Russian government of Georgia.”
Georgian opposition parties said this was evidence of how the German government sees the current Georgian government.