Parliamentary Commission to Investigate Alleged 'Inhumane Treatment' of Saakashvili, GD Head Not Against it

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Thursday, January 6, 2022

“This commission will easily determine the absence of ill-treatment. The session will open in February. Before that we will have a discussion and make a decision,” Kobakhidze said.

The former president, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship, is serving a sentence for abuse of power after his clandestine return earlier this year in October from eight years in political exile.

United National Movement (UNM) party members have stated this week that they will enter the parliament if an inquiry commission is set up. The former president’s lawyer Giorgi Mshvenieradze stated that Saakashvili demands from the parliamentary opposition that a temporary commission of inquiry be arranged to look into the matter.

According to UNM party leader Khatia Dekanoidze, given the abolition of state inspector’s office, soon Londa Toloraria will no longer have the authority, which, she assures, was done by the government so that the case of prisoner former president, Mikheil Saakashvili wouldn’t be fully investigated. Dekanoidze announced that the replacement of the State Inspector's Office is possible with a commission of inquiry, such cases have already been observed and in such a setup, UNM will enter parliament.

Another opposition party Lelo for Georgia supports the initiative, while another opposition party, Girchi, has set conditions for their support of the commission.

“We will not take part in the work of the commission of inquiry, but we will not prevent the members of the UNM from creating it if they publicly promise that when we need a commission of inquiry, they will support us and secondly stop saying that we are friends of GD,” Girchi MP Iago Khvichia stated.

Former Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia’s party For Georgia states that they will not support the initiative, stating that the ‘GD and UNM are two ends of one stick.’ According to their representative MP Ana Buchukuri, GD and UNM support each other and under these conditions, it isn’t right to set up a commission of inquiry.

“The GD is ready to abolish and destroy an independent state institution for the sake of maintaining power and narrow party interests, and the UNM is ready to exchange a narrow party interest or one person's interest in the state interest,” Buchukuri said, emphasizing that when GD decided to abolish the State Inspector’s Office, UNM didn’t even appear at the plenary session of the parliament and when the committee was discussing this difficult decision, one of their representatives started reading Mikheil Saakashvili's letter.

Ruling GD party Head Irakli Kobakhidze has stated that he is not against setting up a parliamentary commission of inquiry to investigate the alleged ‘inhumane treatment’ of former President Saakashvili, who claims prison staff verbally and physically abused him during the transfer to Gldani prison hospital on November 8. Kobakhidze stated that setting up a commission may be wise since it will establish that “there has been no ill-treatment against Saakashvili.”

The Georgian State Inspector's Service launched an investigation into the alleged physical assault on Saakashvili on November 18; however, per legislative amendments proposed by the GD at the end of 2021, the state body will be replaced by two new agencies.