Kyiv should extradite wanted former officials to “win hearts” of Georgians – parliament speaker

Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian parliament speaker, on Monday called on Ukraine to extradite wanted former justice minister Zurab Adeishvili and wanted former deputy head of the Georgian interior ministry Gia Lortkipanidze to Tbilisi to “win the hearts” of Georgians. 

 

The official’s comments came following the latest interview of David Arakhamia, the Ukrainian senior MP of Georgian origin, for the domestic Mtavari channel. 

 

Papuashvili said, Adeishvili, who currently serves as an adviser to the Ukrainian prosecutor general, had been convicted for five separate cases in Georgia and was sentenced to six years in prison in absentia, while Lortkipanidze, who takes a public post in Ukraine, had been charged with aiding the currently imprisoned former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili to “illegally cross” from Ukraine to Georgia in September 2021. 

 

Responding to Arakhamia’s expectations that the current Georgian Dream authorities would not be able to stay in office after the 2024 parliamentary elections, Papuashvili said it was “not serious” to comment on such statements.