UNM members against ex-Interior Minister Merabishvili’s return to party, citing ‘moral issues’ as reason
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One of the leaders of the United National Movement opposition (UNM) Nika Melia says that one of the former most influential figures of the party, former Interior and Prime Minister of Georgia, Vano Merabishvili, will not be on the UNM’s party list for the October 31 parliamentary elections, stating that Merabishvili has no ‘moral right’ to be in politics.
Melia told TV Pirveli that ‘I won’t remain in the party if Merabishvili joins.’
Melia praised Merabishvili’s anti-criminal efforts while in politics. However, he said that many of his actions were ‘unconstitutional’ which played their role in the defeat of the UNM back in 2012 parliamentary elections.
He said that Merabishvili should have resigned and left politics following the brutal murder of Sandro Girgvliani in 2006, involving Merabishvili and and his wife.
Merabishvili left prison earlier this year after serving almost seven years, stating that he was returning to politics and ‘guaranteed’ the end of the current Georgian Dream leadership.
Merabishvili left prison in February 2020.
Standing outside Matrosovi prison Merabishvili told the media that the opposition was united around key demands. However, his close friends were in different opposition parties
- Merabishvili was detained in May 2013, a year after the Georgian Dream coalition defeated the United National Movement in parliamentary elections, and has been serving a sentence for several convictions, including for the brutal dispersal of an opposition rally on May 26, 2011, the murder case of Sandro Girgvliani and the attacking of the opposition MP Valeri Gelashvili.
- The sentence for the charges was six years and nine months in total, as the charges were merged.
- Merabishvili may face further charges for the raid on Imedi TV in 2007 and the dispersal of another rally on November 7, 2007.
- The UNM says Merabishvili was a political prisoner, which has not been confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights.
Political parties and politicians have given different evaluations to the release of former influential figure Vano Merabishvili from his seven-year imprisonment, as well as his promise given at Matrosovi prison earlier today that the current state government ‘will be overthrown’ by the end of the year. Merabishvili, who served as interior and prime minister under the United National Movement government, has not yet decided which opposition party to join.
Former Interior and Prime Minister of Georgia, one of the most influential figures of the United National Movement (UNM) government, Vano Merabishvili left prison earlier today after serving almost seven years, stating that he is returning to politics and ‘guarantees’ the end of the current Georgian Dream leadership. Standing at Matrosovi prison Merabishvili told the media that the opposition is united around key demands. However, his close friends are now in different opposition parties.
The Georgian Ministry of Corrections has published the conclusions of a German lab regarding the health condition of imprisoned former Interior Minister Ivane (Vano) Merabishvili, amid speculations of Marabishvili’s lawyers that the former official has been poisoned in prison.
Tbilisi City Court has delivered a guilty verdict against Georgia’s former Interior Minister Ivane (Vano) Merabishvili and other ex-officials in the prolonged Girgvliani murder case.
The CoE Committee of Ministers has urged for a more effective investigation to be conducted into the detention of former Interior and Prime Minister of Georgia Vano Merabishvili, who was released from prison earlier this year.
The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs on Thursday confirmed it had launched an investigation following reports of assault on Vano Merabishvili, one of the most influential figures of the previous United National Movement Government who served as the country’s Interior Minister for almost eight years.