Parliament Speaker: public rejected Saakashvili’s 2021 “staged” return, “radicalism”
Papuashvili claimed Saakashvili had “sneaked into the country precisely to organise a revolution”, in contrast to the wishes of citizens of the country, who he said wanted to see “development and peace” in the country instead. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said the Georgian public had responded with rejection to the “radicalism” and the “staged movie” of the 2021 clandestine return to the country of the now-imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Papuashvili said the domestic public had “seen many times the kind of movie” the former official, who was arrested on his return due to his convictions on cases of abuse of power, was attempting to facilitate with the move.
In the 30-year history of our independence, we have already seen all this - the kind of movie that Saakashvili tried to stage - we have already seen it many times. That is why the Georgian citizens responded [appropriately] to all kinds of radicalism”, the Parliament official said.
“The absurdity is that they want to talk about Mikheil Saakashvili as a democrat, including in the [European Parliament] resolution”, Papuashvili said in reference to the document adopted by the EP on February 16 that said Bidzina Ivanishvili, the former Prime Minister and the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, was “responsible” for the controversial circumstances around the health of Saakashvili.
That is why we are upset that the resolution of the European Parliament, which directly contains misinformation in the first sentence, has become a source of misinformation [about Saakashvili and his treatment]”, he added.
Papuashvili claimed Saakashvili had “sneaked into the country precisely to organise a revolution”, in contrast to the wishes of citizens of the country, who he said wanted to see “development and peace” in the country instead.
[T]hat is why the Georgian citizens responded to all kinds of radicalism - they no longer follow any kind of radicalism, because people want one thing: to see this country develop peacefully, to be independent, to be free and prosperous”, he concluded.
Saakashvili is now serving a six-year term for two separate cases of abuse of power while in office, with three other cases involving his term pending.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Monday alleged a group of members of the European Parliament was taking “deliberate actions to harm Georgia’s image” in a bid to facilitate an “illegal release” of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili from detention.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Sunday said the “wish” of the Georgian Government to ensure “good health” of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili was “not reciprocated” in the actions of the former official.
Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Committee on Human Rights, on Wednesday called “comical” the proposal of Levan Khabeishvili, the newly elected Chair of the opposition United National Movement party, that made offers to authorities in exchange for releasing the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili had "confirmed he is an ordinary agent" of a foreign state.
The Tbilisi Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld the verdict of the Tbilisi City Court that denied the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili's release or postponement of the rest of his sentence on health grounds.
PM Irakli Garibashvili claimed the former official’s family had spent the funds to “raise fake accusations” of the Government “torturing and killing” Saakashvili in custody.
Koka Katsitadze, the Chair of Georgia’s Special Investigation Service, on Tuesday said the country’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili had failed to respond to his agency’s offer of an interview following the former official’s claims of having been poisoned in custody.
Rati Bregadze, the Georgian Justice Minister, on Wednesday said comments by United National Movement, the largest opposition group in the country’s Parliament, that positioned the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili as the party’s leader were a “classic example of informal rule” in the group.