20 opposition parties release joint statement, say Rurua’s conviction has political grounds
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Twenty Georgian opposition parties released a joint statement earlier today in which they said that the recent conviction of a co-founder of the opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua has political grounds.
The parties claimed that Rurua’s sentencing to four years in prison for the alleged illegal possession and carrying of firearms contradicts the March 8 election agreement between the ruling party and the opposition.
The March 8 agreement would have seen the release of Rurua and said that detentions on political grounds are unacceptable. Rurua’s conviction is the political decision of Bidzina Ivanishvili (the head and the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party) and shows the obedience of the judiciary to the ruling party”, said the statement.
The parties say that Rurua’s release will decrease threats of tension during the ‘complicated election campaign’ for the state.
The ruling party and the prime minister say that the government never interferes in the judiciary’s issues and that the country has no political prisoners
If someone commits a crime, being called a political prisoner by several people or owning a TV channel must not be an alibi to avoid responsibility,” PM Giorgi Gakharia said.
It was because of Rurua the opposition parties refused to vote for constitutional changes earlier this year, per the March 8 election agreement between the ruling party and the opposition.
I remain concerned about today's sentencing of Giorgi #Rurua on spurious charges in #Georgia – a legal system should never be used to fulfill political aims. President Zurabishvili should pardon Mr. Rurua in the interest of depolarizing the political climate as elections near.
— U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (@SenateForeign) July 30, 2020
The opposition claimed that the ruling party accepted Rurua’s release in the election talks which were mediated by the diplomatic corps which the ruling party strongly denied.
The German ambassador to Georgia also said that Rurua ‘was not mentioned’ in the March 8 election agreement that is why he was sharply criticized by the opposition.
Giorgi Rurua is the brother of a deceased official under the previous United National Movement government Nikoloz Rurua.
The ruling Georgian Dream party and the united opposition have reached an agreement on holding the upcoming parliamentary elections this October with 120 seats in the legislative body to be distributed via a proportional vote and the remaining 30 via the majoritarian system.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has responded to the recent conviction of the co-founder of the opposition-minded TV channel Giorgi Rurua, stating that if someone commits a crime, he must be held accountable, no matter whether he owns a television or is labelled as a political prisoner by the opposition.
The co-founder of the opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua was found guilty for the illegal possession and carrying of firearms and has been sentenced to four years in prison by Tbilisi City Court earlier today.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has reiterated that the case of the co-founder of the opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua ‘has nothing to do with politics’ and it is the judiciary which makes decisions on criminal cases.
President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has refused to pardon Giorgi Rurua, co-founder of TV channel Mtavari Arkhi, who was convicted of illegal possession of firearms by Tbilisi City Court on Thursday.
Co-founder of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV channel Giorgi Rurua was attacked by other convicts in prison yesterday.
The convicts who attacked a co-founder of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV channel Giorgi Rurua in prison on November 2 have been placed in a strict regime prison, the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia stated earlier today.
In an open letter to the US senators, Georgian non-governmental organisations are calling for the United States for greater involvement in resolution of the political crisis in Georgia.