Girchi - More Freedom leader Japaridze fined, party members detained
Japaridze said that he was fined with 200 GEL. Photo: Zurab Girchi Japaridze's Facebook page
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Girchi - More Freedom opposition party leader Zurab Girchi Japaridze has been fined, while 10 of his party members have been detained after blocking the entrances to State Security Service (SSS) buildings in six Georgian cities.
Party members blocked the SSS office entrances with their cars as a form of protest, demanding the imprisoned former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili's transfer from prison hospital to a civil clinic, as well as a fully proportional electoral system and snap elections.
Their cars eventually got removed by police.
Demands of the protest are:
— Girchi•More Freedom (@Girchi_GE) November 12, 2021
•Fully proportional system with a 2% threshold
•Snap elections
•Moving @SaakashviliM to the hospital@usingeo @eucopresident @ViolavonCramon @ALDEParty @VVDint @libertarianpol @Shamemovement @UNMGeorgia @MovementDroa @KubiliusA @CarlHartzellEU
Japaridze said that he was fined with 200 GEL for blocking the SSS entrance. He added that he could not be arrested because of his MP mandate.
Five people [who were detained] participated in the protest, they were sitting in the cars [blocking the SSS entrances]. The rest of the five people were just filming the protest with their phones... They are detained all over Georgia, some of them in Marneuli, others in Rustavi, Japaridze told the press earlier today.
Saakashvili was arrested on October 1 ahead of the 2021 local elections, and is currently serving his sentence of six years' imprisonment for abuse of power.
As for snap elections, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party was obliged by the EU-mediated April 19 agreement to hold early parliamentary elections if it received less than 43% of votes in local elections.
However, in late July the GD withdrew from the agreement – which ended months of political standoff caused by parliamentary elections in 2020 – and received 47% of the vote in the proportional part of the race.