Ruling party official warns President against pardoning Saakashvili
Mdinaradze said Zourabichvili “must know” that “if she pardons Saakashvili, she will take responsibility for Saakashvili's actions between 2003-2012 and the harm done since then”. Photo: Georgian Dream Press Office
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Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday warned the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili against pardoning the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Mdinaradze said Zourabichvili “must know” that “if she pardons Saakashvili, she will take responsibility for Saakashvili's actions between 2003-2012 and the harm done since then”.
“Pardoning Mikheil Saakashvili's would mean being complicit and taking responsibility for what he did in Georgia between 2003-2012, and not only in those years. After what he has done against Georgia”, he claimed.
“If Salome Zourabichvili can do this, then she will probably pardon him, but nothing from her will surprise us anymore. [While she was] supported by us and a large part of the Georgian public, [...] we could not even make her say whether Georgia deserves the EU membership candidate status”, the party official said in reference to claims by GD of Zourabichvili’s comments on the status undermining the prospects for the country.
“Will she be able to pardon Saakashvili? This is an unpredictable story”, Mdinaradze said in his comments.
Saakashvili, who has Ukrainian citizenship and held a public post in the country, was arrested on his return to Georgia in October 2021 and is serving a six-year term for abuse of power in a case he had been convicted on. He has three other cases against him pending.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Tuesday rejected the accusations of torture and inhuman treatment of imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili as “not supported by evidence”, stressing these allegations were “a part of the political agenda”.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Monday said actions of a visiting Polish medical professional had caused “misunderstanding and concern” after an alleged attempt of smuggling of a medical sample of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili out of a Tbilisi clinic last week.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Tuesday called on imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili and “people who are sincerely concerned with his recovery” to follow doctors’ recommendations, instead of “manipulating” his health.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Friday said the European Court of Human Rights had rejected the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s request to be transferred to Poland’s capital Warsaw for treatment.
Kakha Kaladze, the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party and Tbilisi Mayor, on Monday warned President Salome Zourabichvili against pardoning the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The For Georgia opposition party on Thursday called on the country's Government to transfer Mikheil Saakashvili, the imprisoned former President, from the civilian clinic in Tbilisi where he has been receiving treatment since May 2022 back to prison detention "at least" after the New Year’s Eve holidays.
Givi Mikanadze, an MP of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday criticised the initiative put forth by the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili for formation of independent expenditure-only political action committees - commonly known as “super PACs” - ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections by calling it “absurd” and claiming the former official’s efforts were geared towards “maintaining relevance” in domestic politics.