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The Council of Europe criticizes the seizure of Georgian Dreams bank accounts! – “This is the beginning, it is just the first case the West has studied."

Newspaper Rezonansi reports that the co-speakers of the EC Parliamentary Assembly on Georgian Affairs Michael Jensen and Boris Chilevich have expressed their concern regarding the seizure of Georgian Dream members' bank accounts: "The exaggerated and inappropriate fines imposed make proper political activities simply impossible for the “Dream” movement. We would like to ask the government to act with restrain and try to be more reasonable, to make sure all political parties have a possibility of being completely involved in the election campaign."

The Georgian government stated that the announcement is based on one-sided information. However representatives of Georgian Dream responded that it was not their intention to impose their own opinion on the Parliamentary Assembly, and that only unbiased facts were brought to the Assembly's attention.

The announcement was replied by David Darchiashvili, one of the representatives of the governing United National Movement. He reiterated his respect for the Parliamentary Assembly before however refusing to support the statement made by the co-speakers. “I find the statement to be inappropriate as it is based on one-sided information. The amount of fine applied to the [Georgian Dream] movement is relatively small compared to the actual amount of money available in their bank accounts… Georgian Dream does not lack financial sources at all; numerous activities held by the movement are proof of this.” Darchiashvili said. He added that fines should be imposed if election regulations are broken.



Suspect in Putin assassination plot seeks political asylum in Georgia.

InterPress reports that Adam Osmaev, suspect in a foiled plan to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin, has applied for political asylum in Georgia. As Amina Okueva, wife of the suspect informed Interfax, documents have already been forwarded to high-ranking Georgian officials to consider the asylum plea. In case Osmaev is refused by Georgian officials, he will seek asylum in Finland.

Russian citizen Adam Osmaev and his possible accomplice, Kazakh citizen Ilya Piaznin were arrested in Odessa, Ukraine in February this year. Piaznin has co-operated with investigators and mentioned in his testimony that Osmaev was the leader of the plot. The decision of the Ukrainian court to extradite the suspects to Russia has been temporarily suspended on the recommendation of the European Court of Human Rights. In case the ECHR prohibits extraditing the suspects to Russia, their case will be adjudicated in a Ukrainian court.