Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday slammed several MEPs for their statements and moves to ensure the release of currently imprisoned former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili from prison. 

“Can MEPs Rasa Juknevičienė, Raphaël Glucksmann, Viola von Cramon and Andrius Kubilius be the face of Europe? It is very regrettable what the Georgian people are hearing from Europe [by these politicians]”, Kobakhidze said. 

The politician once again criticized the MEPs, who have been accused by his party of backing by the “radical” United National Movement opposition in Georgia many times, for their allegations towards the founder of the GD and former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili about running the country from the backstage and calling on sanctions on him for his alleged  links with Russia.

"On one side there is a philanthropist, who had provided three billion dollars for Georgia [in reference to Ivanishvili] and on the other side there is a man [Saakashvili], who had stolen  billions and killed hundreds of people [while in office between 2004 and 2012]”, Kobakhidze said. 

The MEPs say that Saakashvili is in “urgent need” of transportation abroad for treatment and are demanding his release from prison on medical grounds.