Charges against opposition are response to EU criticism - Zourabichvili
Salome Zourabichvili, the former pro-European president of Georgia, has said that newly launched criminal cases against opposition leaders are the ruling Georgian Dream party’s response to the European Union’s Enlargement Report, which described Georgia as a “nominal candidate” and urged the government to “urgently reverse their backsliding on democracy,” News.Az reports, citing Georgian media.
"Russian handbook at work: new accusations levelled by the General Prosecutor against almost all opposition leaders. Sabotage, plotting to topple the government, serving foreign interests … carrying sentences up to 11 yrs. GD answers EU’s Report: 'we don’t care,'" Zourabichvili wrote on X.
The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office on Friday opened new criminal cases against former president Mikheil Saakashvili and seven other leading opposition figures, accusing them of “crimes against the state”: sabotage, aiding a foreign state in hostile activities, financing actions against the constitutional order, and calls for a violent change of power. Three of the accused — Elene Khoshtaria, Zurab “Girchi” Japaridze, and Giorgi Vashadze — face up to 15 years in prison.
The charges relate to events that took place a year ago, and were announced two days after the EU, in its annual report, warned of a “rapid erosion of the rule of law and severe restrictions on fundamental rights” in Georgia, and urged the authorities to cooperate with opposition parties and civil society to address existing problems.
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