Georgian Foreign Minister meets EU, German ambassadors, expresses “concerns” on visit of wanted former official to European structures

Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Monday met Paweł Herczyński, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, and Peter Fischer, the German Ambassador to the country, to communicate the Government’s concerns on a visit of Zurab Adeishvili, the wanted official of the former United National Movement Government, to EU and German official structures as part of an official delegation of Ukraine last month.

In the statement, the Foreign office said Adeishvili was “implicated in high-profile cases” in Georgia, and noted concern over participation in official meetings of the individual “whose criminal actions contravene the principles of democratic and just state”. The statement also said the move had “raised legitimate concerns within Georgian society” and “undermines efforts aimed at countering anti-Western sentiments” in the public.

Photo: Ilia Darchiashvili/Facebook

During the meeting with the ambassadors, the Georgian side also said it hoped both the EU and its member states would “respond appropriately to similar situations in the future”, the press office of the Foreign Ministry noted.

In their turn, the ambassadors reiterated their “readiness to closely cooperate” with the Georgian Government in addressing both the current bilateral agenda and advancing the country's integration process into the EU.

The meetings follow the Government’s comments earlier on Monday that said Adeishvili had been “one of the masterminds” behind the “repressive” UNM “regime” that had “continuously trampled democratic and legal statehood principles” in Georgia, along with “basic human rights and freedoms” and independence of the Georgian judiciary.