Prime Minister: Public should forgive Chief Prosecutor
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, December 30
Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili has confirmed that the Chief Prosecutor Otar Partskhaladze was convicted.
"Partskhaladze was convicted. He served his sentence in Germany," Gharibashvili said.
In addition, the Prime Minister says that the commotion around Partskhaladze’s case “is exaggerated.”
Gigi Ugulava, who was suspended from the Tbilisi Mayoral Office, said on December 23 that the chief prosecutor has a criminal record, involving a conviction in Germany for theft and burglary. Partskhaladze partially confirmed the allegation, stating that he had an incident with the police in 2000 in Germany. According to him, a court in Germany found him guilty of having a “verbal altercation” with a police officer and not for burglary.
Parliament speaker Davit Usupashvili stressed that now there is no reason whatsoever to sack Partskhaladze.
Usupashvili said that the issue of dismissing Partskhaladze is “completely irrelevant”.
“The Prime Minister thinks that as of now there is no reason whatsoever to dismiss him [Partskhaladze] and he [PM] has my full support over this issue. I spoke with the Prime Minister and I received a very firm answer from him, that everything is in order in terms of Partskhaladze, both legally and on a moral basis,” Usupashvili said.
Giga Bokeria, the former Secretary of the National Security Council, believes that Chief Prosecutor Otar Partskharladze should be dismissed.
Bokeria emphasized that a person who has a criminal record should not be in charge of the Prosecutor’s Office.
“This person cannot be an effective prosecutor. The Prime Minister's speech yesterday was comedic. He said we should forgive Partskharladze if he had committed something in his childhood. A 25 -year-old person is not a child," the MP said. According to him, Georgia’s Prime Minister is 30 years old, and therefore, it is not a childhood age.
Political analyst Khatuna Lagazidze believes that speculation over Partskhaladze might affect the image of the new Government of Georgia. The analyst also thinks that the new government should act regarding Partskhaladze, as the leadership of the developed European countries would behave in such a situation.
“If we go to Europe, we should follow European standards in this regard as well,” Lagazidze says.
Analyst Tornike Sharashenidze thinks that the Georgian Dream has a “headache” regarding Partskhaladze.
“Through the law, Partskhaladze can hold the position…the coalition should decided what to do. The fact that the United National Movement demanded Partskhaladze’s dismissal might disturb the coalition to sack the Chief Prosecutor… on the other hand, if the Government does not dismiss Partskhaladze, the opposition will constantly remind them of the issue,” Sharashenidze states.
