UNM Considers Poisoning Droa Leader Elene Khoshtaria, GD Chairman Claims
By Khatia Bzhalava
Wednesday, November 10
Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Irakli Kobakhidze announced at a briefing yesterday that the opposition considers taking radical steps such as murdering their teammates. Kobakhidze stated that according to the information provided to them, the National Movement is discussing the scenario of poisoning Elene Khoshtaria, the leader of political movement Droa, to further strain political tension. “We warn the radicals that any attempted crime will be strictly punished according to the law,” said Kobakhidze.
According to the Chairman of the GD party, they have received confidential information that a meeting of ten UNM representatives was held yesterday, where the participants ‘seriously discussed’ poisoning Khoshtaria. Khoshtaria is currently on her 8th day of hunger strike in solidarity with the former president, Mikheil Saakashvili. According to Droa, such a statement is ‘an open threat from the government's side.’
As Kobakhidze noted, placing Saakashvili in a civil clinic would contribute to the implementation of his destructive plans. He stated that international partners often talk about polarization as a major problem of the country's political system and he believes that the only source of polarization is the radical opposition.
According to him, over the last few days, they have witnessed ‘desperate’ steps of radical opposition aimed at stirring up the country even after the elections are over.
Kobakhidze also touched upon the demand of the opposition for a snap election, saying that the recent municipal elections put an end to the radical opposition’s ambition to regain power and restore their violent regime in Georgia.
The main demands of the UNM are Saakashvili’s transfer to a civil clinic for treatment, instead of the prison hospital where he is currently placed, the release of Saakashvili from prison, and the annulment of the municipal election results.
Saakashvili was transferred to Gldani prison medical facility on Monday and according to the former president, he was deceived by telling that he would be taken to a regular civil clinic. According to him, he was physically and verbally insulted by the guards. “They pulled me out of the car, hit me in the neck several times, and dragged me on the ground by grabbing my hair, during which I resisted,” reads Saakashvili’s letter.
He admits hitting the staff member because, as he claims, they tried to inject him without his permission. Saakashvili refuses any medical intervention, stressing that the purpose of his transfer to the Gldani 18th facility is his physical destruction and Putin’s order.
Following Saakashvili’s transfer to Gldani clinic, opposition members and Saakashvili’s supporters held a rally in front of the building of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and later at the Parliament building on the Rustaveli Avenue, demanding the transportation of Saakashvili to a civil clinic. UNM head Nika Melia says that rallies will be held ‘regularly’ in Tbilisi and regions, ‘under the law and without breaking into state buildings,’ until all their demands are met.
The opposition has been holding protests in three different locations in Tbilisi today: the Ministry of Justice, the State Security Service, and the Ministry of Health.
For the record, the third President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 and has been on hunger strike since then. The ex-president is charged with several criminal offenses including, violent dispersal of the November 7 rally, unlawful raiding of Imedi TV, and exceeding of authorities over the seizure of Mtatsminda Park.
