Georgian former Prime Minister and current opposition leader Giorgi Gakharia has announced that he does not plan to return to Georgia, as the authorities are investigating him under charges of sabotage.
Gakharia, the leader of the opposition For Georgia party, announced that he would not return to the country, warning that should he return, his political activities would be restricted.
Gakharia is speculated to have been abroad for months. In an interview with opposition-aligned TV Pirveli on Monday, he said that he has received a residence permit in Germany.
‘It is simply a long-term visa, which allows me to work in Europe for a long time, following formal procedures. I don’t mean looking for a job, but working in the interests of the party, the country, including expert interests. We are preparing a project together with expert circles, which will be announced soon’, Gakharia said, stressing that ‘in no case is this political asylum’.
Despite being under a sabotage investigation for installing a police checkpoint near South Ossetia in 2019, Gakharia said that he did not believe the Georgian Dream-led government had the resources to arrest him.
‘I mean, they take me for interrogations on various cases, create some PR topics out of it, then restrict me from leaving the country, restrict my mobility. The fact is that today “the Dream” has more than enough resources to be much more effective in restricting my political activities when I am in Tbilisi’, he said.
Gakharia is the only opposition politician to have agreed to appear before a parliamentary commission initially created to investigate alleged crimes committed by the formerly ruling United National Movement party.
The commission’s mandate was later expanded to investigate the vast majority of Georgia’s opposition groups following Georgian Dream’s rise to power in 2012.
Gakharia, who has attended at least one of the commission sessions remotely, was grilled by his former team for installing the checkpoint.
Six major opposition leaders have already been detained and sentenced for failing to appear before the commission.
Yousef Bardouka
