Georgian PM expresses “readiness” to provide evidence” after “direct threats” of “sharing fate” of Slovak PM’s shooting

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday said he was “ready to provide evidence” to a foreign investigation on the “direct threats” about the head of the Government “sharing the fate” of Robert Fico, the Slovak Prime Minister who was shot last month.

Kobakhidze’s comments followed his phone call last month with Olivér Várhelyi, the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, who the Georgian PM said had “listed a number of measures” Western officials could take if the Georgian President’s veto on the controversial domestic law on transparency of foreign influence was overcome by the ruling Georgian Dream party.

We were directly threatened that we would share the fate of Fico. If any country is interested, I am ready to provide relevant information and evidence to investigation”, Kobakhidze said. 

Várhelyi last month commented on Kobakhidze’s original remark on May 23 about the conversation, expressing “very sincere regret” that a “certain part” of the call had been “taken out of context”.

The EU official said he had “felt the need” to call the attention of the Georgian PM to the importance of “not inflaming the already fragile situation further” by adopting the law, which he said could lead to “further polarisation and to possible uncontrolled situations on the streets of Tbilisi”.

He also added “in this regard, the latest tragic event in Slovakia was made as an example and as a reference to where such high level of polarisation can lead in a society even in Europe”.

Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of Georgia’s Parliament, on Monday formally signed the law - which requires registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad - after the ruling party last week overrode President Salome Zourabichvili’s veto.