Former Georgian Prime Minister Kvirikashvili calls for release of detained protesters

Georgia’s former Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has called for the release of youth detained in anti-government protests, saying that their release would ‘result only in positive things for the country and the government’.

Kvirikashvili called for the release of detained protesters on Tuesday.

In a Facebook post linking a video from the trial of Giorgi Gorgadze and Irakli Miminoshvili — two young protesters detained during the ongoing wave of anti-government protests — Kvirikashvili said ‘Let these people go!’

‘This will greatly contribute to relieving tensions in society’, he said. ‘Believe me, their being in prison, making them and their families miserable is not good for the majority of society, including — you guessed it — a large portion of your supporters’.

Kvirikashvili, who resigned as prime minister in June 2018 over ‘disagreements’ with Georgian Dream founder and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, argued that their release would ‘not be a sign of weakness’.

‘Take this step, with this you will get only positive things for the country and the government’, he said.

Kvirikashvili did not specify whether he was only calling for the release of Gorgadze and Miminoshvili, at a time when hundreds of protesters are believed to have been detained as part of protests against the government’s decision to freeze Georgia’s EU membership bid.

With protests ongoing since November 2024, media reports suggest that more than 50 criminal cases have been launched against protesters on various charges.

Detained protesters have reported being systematically robbed and beaten by police, with testimony from several detainees revealing episodes of extreme violence and intimidation.

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OC MediaXandie (Alexandra) Kuenning