Prosecutor’s Office accused of fulfilling Gov’t orders
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, March 22
The parliamentary opposition parties are accusing the Prosecutor’s Office of fulfilling the demands of the government and the country’s former prime minister, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The statement of the United National Movement and the European Georgia parliamentary opposition parties came after the Rustavi 2 private broadcaster reported several days ago that members of the majority, Prosecutor’s Office staff and several others are receiving messages from the government’s administration on what to say to the media about various issues.
Generally, Chief Prosecutor’s Offices in democratic countries are independent and they mustn’t obey any political team. “However, we have a reality wherein the country’s Chief Prosecutor receives messages from the government and says and does what they want,” member of European Georgia Otar Kakhidze said.
Irakli Shotadze, who is the first parliament-elected chief prosecutor in the history of independent Georgia, has denied the accusations.
He stressed his office received no messages and never fulfilled anyone's orders.
“What we do is act within the law and obey state legislation,” Shotadze said.
Many of the majority representatives did not hide that they really receive messages from the government’s administration and stressed it was because the government and the parliamentary majority belonged to one and the same Georgian Dream team.
However, these allegations need to be proved by facts; the officials who claim that they are under the pressure from the top should say the names of the persons who exercise such practice.
There is no surprise that the parliamentary majority and the government exchange their views on different issues, majority member Eka Beselia thinks.
Therefore, the majority representatives excluded the possibility of any type of government involvement in the Prosecutor’s Office steps.
