Parliament official denounces MEP’s call for release of former President as “provocative”

Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chair of the Parliament's Human Rights Committee, on Thursday denounced an amendment introduced by Anna Fotyga, a member of the European Parliament, to a resolution to urge the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili to pardon the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, as “provocative”.

The amendment calls on Zourabichvili to pardon the former official “on humanitarian grounds” and argues the outcome will reduce polarisation on the domestic Georgian political scene.

In his response, Sarjveladze said the case of Saakashvili was one where a “specific criminal is serving a sentence and no one is entitled to disrespect the opinion of the Georgian judiciary, the Georgian state and the majority of the citizens of this country”.

“I believe that such initiatives on the part of motivated MEPs towards a specific political party in Georgia are provocative”, he continued. 

Sarjveladze also warned about “consequences of such decisions and opinions”, including “in terms of attitudes towards Europe” in Georgia.