PM Gakharia on Merabishvili’s release: UNM is the past, we should think about the future
Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia says that the United National Movement opposition has no public support. Photo: Prime Minister’s press office.
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Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has responded to the release of former Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili and said that the “United National Movement [the party Merabishvili belonged to] is the past, we should think about the future.”
We should work and do our best for Georgia to be a country of opportunities, not a state of challenges or coups,” Gakharia said.
He stated that Merabishvili’s words at Matrosoni prison earlier today, that the ‘current state leadership will be overthrown by the end of the year,’ has proved that the ‘United National Movement has no future.’
Merabishvili, who spent seven years in prison, was released earlier today.
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.
Georgia’s former Interior and Prime Minister Ivane (Vano) Merabishvili is scheduled to leave prison on February 20, 2020.
Former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili and Zurab Tchiaberashvili, who at the time was Minister of Heath and former governor of the Kakheti region, have been found guilty in the so called ‘employment’ case.
Former top figure of the United National Movement (UNM) government Vano Merabishvili, who left prison earlier this year, says that he has ‘no plans to enter parliament or take any governmental post’ after the October parliamentary elections.
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.