The United National Movement (UNM) party has criticized Transparency International – Georgia’s decision not to include former President Mikheil Saakashvili in its list of Georgian political prisoners published in a new report. “Continuing this unfair and audacious ‘anti-Misha’ campaign only damages the reputation of the organization itself,” the political organization said in a statement.
The party called the report sad, baffling, and alarming, stating that, in the UNM’s view, it ignores the status of the country’s third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, as a political prisoner, as well as the entire array of “Russian-style repressions” against him.
The statement notes that providing international political, judicial, and humanitarian institutions, as well as the media, with reliable information about mass political repression carried out by the “Russian regime of Bidzina Ivanishvili” is an essential part of the fight against it, and for human rights organizations, a matter of professional and ethical responsibility.
The UNM also stated that Transparency International – Georgia’s references to European criteria and timeframes when defining political prisoners appear misplaced, as, according to the party, various European institutions have already passed resolutions and statements regarding the political persecution of and treatment toward Mikheil Saakashvili.
The authors of the statement contend that such decisions heighten public suspicions that certain political and civic organizations are deliberately limiting the scope of political repression to recent years, diverting attention from events that, in their view, began immediately after “Georgian Dream” came to power in 2012.
“How can one compile a list of political prisoners without including the country’s most prominent political prisoner, the main opponent of Putin and Ivanishvili? In referring to him as the primary political prisoner, we are not engaging in party PR, but stating a fact. It is obvious that Bidzina Ivanishvili might permit any other political prisoner to participate in political life except for the third president of Georgia, whom he fears the most,” the statement reads.
As a reminder, according to the updated report by Transparency International – Georgia, 91 individuals in Georgia currently meet the criteria for political prisoner status established by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. This refers to 91 accused and convicted individuals who are currently in custody.