Opposition member detained at rally demanding PM’s resignation

Police on Monday arrested Igor Narmania, a secretary of the youth movement of the United National Movement opposition party for disobeying the law enforcement during a rally at the Government office in Tbilisi, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili for taking his son to the United States on a government plane for personal purposes.

 

Garibashvili went to the US with his son in August as the latter was starting his academic year at the University of Pennsylvania. 

 

The Department of Strategic Communications of the Government of Georgia explained last week the PM left Tbilisi on a charter flight to one of the European cities, and from there to the US on a regular flight, adding the official had covered “all expenses”. 

 

The domestic opposition-minded media claimed the Government had waited for the PM and his family in Munich for a week to bring them back to the country. 

 

The Government has not released the costs of the flight so far. 

 

Garibashvili filled out the last declaration in October 2022, according to which his annual incomes amounted to about $17,000. The same declaration said parents had gifted him $57,000.