Opposition leader calls on military to reject inauguration of President-elect Kavelashvili

Mamuka Khazaradze, leader of the Strong Georgia opposition coalition, has urged the Georgian army to recognise Salome Zourabichvili as the sole legitimate commander-in-chief and reject the authority of the incoming president. He called on the military to boycott the inauguration, labelling it illegitimate.

‘The Georgian army must not support an illegitimate process. That would be a betrayal of Antsukhelidze and the heroes who sacrificed their lives for truth and the future of our country’, Khazaradze wrote on his Facebook page.

Giorgi Antsukhelidze, a prisoner of war who was tortured to death during the August 2008 war, was posthumously recognised as a national hero in 2013. One of Sunday’s marches in Tbilisi, joined by the Veterans’ March, was held in his name.

The inauguration of President-elect Mikheil Kavelashvili is scheduled for 29 December. Outgoing President Zourabichvili has insisted that she should remain in office until the ruling party calls new elections — proposals that the Georgian Dream party once again dismissed today.