EP to vote on resolution calling for ex-pres. Saaakshvili’s release on medical grounds

The European Parliament will on Wednesday vote on a resolution on the implementation of the Georgia-EU Association Agreement, drafted by MEP Sven Mikser, which, along with other questions, calls for the release of currently imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili on medical grounds. 

The draft resolution was voted on by the Foreign Relations Committee of the EP on November 8, with the document making a mention of “politically motivated justice against both media representatives and opposition members”, the “setback of democratic processes” and urges the country to meet conditions set by the European Commission to obtain the European Union membership candidate status.  

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party and the former prime minister named as a “shadow ruler” by the domestic opposition,  Saakashvili,  Nika Gvaramia, a currently imprisoned head of the opposition-minded Mtavari channel, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze – Lelo opposition party leaders and co-founders of Georgia’s TBC Bank are also mentioned in the text.

In the subchapter over de-oligarchization laws, the document points out “excessive influence of Ivanishvili in Georgia’s political, economic and public life, citing him  not as an  “oligarch” [as the opposition labels him] but “former prime minister of Georgia”.