Charkviani Held a Rally on Rustaveli Avenue Demanding the Release of Saakashvili
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, October 11
In Tbilisi, on Rustaveli Avenue, a rally was held by the People's Movement, whose founder, MP Tako Charkviani, said the rally was a warning to the government.
“The Russian-persecuted president should not be judged by the authorities working for Russia. It is intertwined. Let us make reforms, we must eradicate corruption from this land, and after that, normal justice must discuss every case in this country. No to selective justice and no to corruption that overthrew our state - this is why we gathered on Rustaveli Avenue,” said Charkviani.
To bring Saakashvili back, Tako Charkviani founded the People's Movement on September 10. She said that the political fight against Saakashvili should have been stopped and he should have been given the right to get his citizenship back, which was ‘wrongly taken away.’
The rally in support of Mikheil Saakashvili was announced by the United National Movement on October 14. Tako Charkviani and her party will join this rally as well.
On the other hand, many other opposition parties announced that they won't be joining the rally to free Saakashvili. Among those parties are European Georgia, Girchi - More Freedom, and others.
According to Giorgi Noniashvili, one of the leaders of European Georgia, Saakashvili is considered a political prisoner, but he won’t join the UNM rally.
He said that the reason for this is that this rally is directly a rally of the UNM, and there only will be supporters and members of UNM present at the rally. “Thus, European Georgia won't take part in the rally”, said Noniashvili.
Leader of Girchi Zurab Japaridze said that the rally might be attended by the representatives of his party.
As for Droa, the party believes that Saakashvili is a political prisoner, but the decision to participate in the rally will be made independently by the members.
“Party Droa believes that Mikheil Saakashvili is a political prisoner. We join the demand for his release. Party members individually decide whether to take part in a particular rally. Elene Khoshtaria herself will join the rally,” said Droa.
The day prior elections, on October 1, Mikheil Saakashvili posted that he was in Georgia. In a few hours, he also released 2 additional videos from Batumi. On the other hand, the representatives of the Georgian Dream claimed that he had not entered the country and he was still in Ukraine.
Just a few hours from the announcements and comments made by the GD members, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili held a briefing with the Interior Minister and the head of the State Security Services, saying that Saakashvili had been arrested. Saakashvili said that he is on a hunger strike.
