UNM demands dismissal of the Chief Prosecutor
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, December 27
The United National Movement (UNM) is appealing to the Minister of Justice Thea Tsulukiani to suspend her vacation in Germany and dismiss Chief-Prosecutor Otar Partskhaladze.
The UNM representative, Zurab Japaridze, claims that including having a criminal past, Partskhaladze’s University diploma is fabricated and the Chief-Prosecutor lacks qualifications for the position.
According to the statement made by Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava, who has just been suspended from office, Partskhaladze was convicted on January 16, 2001 by the Augsburg regional court under articles 249 and 252 of the Criminal Code of Germany for armed robbery. According to Ugulava, the current Chief-Prosecutor was sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in the penitentiary facility of Augsburg and is forbidden to occupy high positions till 2016.
According to the response made by Partskhaladze on the webpage of the Prosecutor’s office, the Chief-Prosecutor confirmed that he had a certain incident with police in Germany, due to a policeman’s mistake, but claims that he was not subject to coercive measures. He stressed that the incident had nothing in common with an armed robbery. Partskhaladze also uploaded a copy of his diploma on the web page.
However, the UNM claims that a person who has a criminal past should not be in a high position. The opposition party also stresses that the dates reflected in the diploma indicate that the document was fabricated.
Member of the Georgian Dream coalition Tina Khidasheli called the statements made by the UNM members “not serious.” She claims that the UNM is in “hysteria” due to the active steps taken by the Prosecutor’s Office under Partskhaladze.
“Whether Partskhaladze has a diploma or not, whether he committed a crime in Germany when he was a little boy, has nothing to do with the cases launched against UNM members… Partskhaladze began a healthy process after coming to power, and very soon the public will get more information about very serious criminal cases,” Khidasheli said. The MP noted that the process of making the Prosecutor’s Office a powerful institution will continue and no one will disturb it.
The inclination that the UNM statements were motivated by fright is shared by the fellow coalition MP Eka Beselia.
Analyst Soso Tsiskarishvili advises Partskhaladze to leave his position. According to him, if Partskhaladze stays in his position, it will further complicate the current situation.
"We are facing the results that the government should have predicted the possible outcomes before, and this incident should not have caused such a big mess. Partskhaladze needs to think about how to get rid of this situation to keep himself as a prospective official. I would like to recommend him to not become a subject of too much discussion and resign in a timely manner,” Tsiskarishvili said.
