EU position on Saakashvili submitted to Georgian Minister of Justice

JAMnews

Tbilisi

EU position on Saakashvili

The Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, Pavel Gerchinsky, submitted the EU’s official position on Mikheil Saakashvili to the Georgian Minister of Justice on February 27. Justice Minister Rati Bregadze initially denied this, but confirmed on February 28 that he had received a document on behalf of EU member states.

“Together with the Ambassador of Sweden, which represents the country chairing the European Union, we submitted to the Minister of Justice an official demarche regarding former President Mikheil Saakashvili. We are very concerned about the deterioration of his health.

It is very important that this demarche was agreed upon by the 27 Member States of the European Union. The Member States agreed on this demarche in Brussels with the participation of all 27 members of the European Union,” Gerchinsky said.

According to Bregadze, he met with the EU and Swedish ambassadors, and then an appeal was made on behalf of the EU member states related to fears for the health of Mikheil Saakashvili.

“Of course, there was a conversation on other issues, but I will not talk about it, because this is an agreement with the ambassadors. The EU Ambassador also noted that we had a fairly extensive and sincere conversation on all issues related to the situation around the convicted Saakashvili,” Bregadze said.

Bregadze also stated that the “radical opposition” is politicizing the issue of Mikheil Saakashvili: if Saakashvili “does not follow the doctors’ recommendations, his health will worsen”:

“When a person wants to recover, he must follow the recommendations of physicians. Let’s just say that this is a categorical request and a way out of this situation. If he does not follow the recommendations of doctors, then, of course, his health will worsen.”

In his view, “a radical group of Saakashvili’s supporters” is deliberately trying to worsen the convict’s condition, while the minister’s team, on the contrary, is interested in his health improving.