Saakashvili to be put on INTERPOL list?
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, September 1
The current government of Georgia intends to put former President Mikheil Saakashvili on the INTERPOL wanted list. According to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, this initiative has already been launched. The opposition claims that the action will result in the ridicule of the Georgian Dream government. Meanwhile, Saakashvili managed to meet with UNM members near Georgia.
Charges against Saakashvili concern the breakup of the November 7, 2007 anti-government protests, as well as the raid and seizure of Imedi TV station and its assets after the dispersal of the protest rallies. Tbilisi City Court as well as the Court of Appeals have demanded Saakashvili’s pre-trial detention.
“It’s ridiculous! It’s a travesty! No one will take their move seriously,” UNM member Sergo Ratiani said.
“We have met with Saakashvili in Turkey. We discussed various issues, including the Ukraine crisis. We discussed the current geopolitical processes and Georgia’s future actions in this regard. As for Saakashvili, he is not going to arrive in Georgia anytime soon,” MP Giorgi Vashadze said.
The current government members stress that any politician who commits a crime should be punished. Majority MP Davit Saganelidze has stated that Saakashvili will be put on the INTERPOL list anyway, as he has committed various crimes.
International organizations, foreign officials and the diplomatic corps have already “warned” the current government to be careful and extremely transparent concerning the Saakashvili case, as it might discourage Georgia’s democratic advancement.
Analyst Kakha Gogolashvili believes that the legal process against Saakashvili might cause problems with Georgia’s foreign allies and put the country in an undesirable situation.
Fellow analyst Soso Tsiskarishvili thinks that if Saakashvili had answered the Prosecutor’s questions, no problems would have been created.
The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association explains that after submitting documentation, INTERPOL decides whether or not they will declare a search on an individual.
“There are situations when the organization does not put an individual on the wanted list. The exception emerges when it comes to various persecutions: political, religious, ethnic and so on,” the organization’s representatives state.
