On November 13, one of the top leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party, former parliamentary chairperson Irakli Kobakhidze, issued a statement, in which he referred to Polish member of the European Parliament (MEP) Anna Fotyga as a “patron of criminals” (Facebook.com, November 13). Fotyga, who briefly served as minister of foreign affairs of Poland in 2006–2007, traveled to Georgia on November 12 to meet with incarcerated former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. The latter has been on a hunger strike since his arrest and imprisonment, on October 1, upon return to the country from exile (see EDM, October 4, 27). The Georgian authorities did not grant the MEP permission to see the former president behind bars, because Fotyga, in a letter dated November 9, requesting the visit, identified Saakashvili as a “political prisoner.” In an official response to Fotyga’s petition, Georgian Minister of Justice Rati Bregadze wrote, “Your letter mentions your past visits to ‘political prisoners.’ We would be grateful if you could explain what you mean by this term” (Interpressnews, November 13).
In Face of Western Criticism, Georgian Authorities Adopt Trappings of ‘Sovereign Democracy’ Rhetoric (Beka Chedia, The Jamestown Foundation)
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