Opposition UNM holding rally in Zugdidi
The United National Movement has been holding demonstrations demanding the release of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. Photo: Tamar Zantaraia/RFERL
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The opposition United National Movement (UNM) is holding a rally in the western Georgian town of Zugdidi demanding to release Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
UNM mayoral candidate in Zugdidi Anzor Melia, who is the father of UNM chair Nika Melia said in his address to the party supporters that he is happy to be running for Zugdidi mayor.
[If elected] I will be everyone’s mayor who loves Georgia… I have visited all of the villages twice, met with tens of thousands of people and I am thankful to God”, he said.
UNM member Ani Tsitlidze said the ongoing race will be ‘a historic battle for the united, strong, independent, free, European Georgia and the darkness’.
United opposition’s mayoral candidate for Poti Gigi Ugulava said this rally is ‘the fight for Mikheil Saakashvili’s freedom’.
Saying that Saakashvili should be the last political prisoner in Georgia, Ugulava noted that the opposition does not aim to replace one party with another, but instead offer a coalition governance.
The opposition has been holding rallies since Saakashvili’s detention on October 1. Saakashvili who is facing several criminal charges, remains on hunger strike at Rustavi # 18 penitentiary facility.
Meanwhile earlier today the ruling Georgian Dream party held a large gathering in Tbilisi ahead of the second round of the municipal elections on October 30.
Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, has said that former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s rights have been breached on several grounds. After visiting Saakashvili in Rustavi Prison No.12 earlier today, Denisova reported that Saakashvili’s rights have been violated on procedural, medical, and religious grounds.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) mayoral candidates in Kareli and Chiatura regions, Zaza Guliashvili and Givi Modebadze, have filed a lawsuit in Tbilisi City Court against the opposition-minded Mtavari-Arkhi TV channel and its head Nika Gvaramia for spreading fake information about them.
The United National Movement (UNM) opposition party has called on the international community and NGOs to ‘take all measures’ to protect former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on hunger strike for 26 days. The UNM chairman Nika Melia said yesterday that Saakashvili needs to be brought to a multi-profile civil clinic and not to a prison hospital as the Georgian Dream government officials had offered.
The ECR Group in the European Parliament is ‘deeply concerned about the worsening health condition’ of the third president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested on October 1. Earlier today Saakashvii announced his refusal to ‘all hunger-related treatment’, including tests, services and inspections of the emergency crew.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has addressed crowds at a large assembly organized by the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party today, where he said that the country has a government which is ‘well-aware of the needs and necessities’ of its people and is taking ‘all steps’ to ensure Georgia’s stable and peaceful development.