The delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe visited Giorgi Gakharia, leader of the ‘Gakharia For Georgia’ party, at his house on Thursday.
As stated in the information released by the party, during the meeting, they discussed the developments in Georgia and the preservation of the country’s European future.
“The co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Claude Kern and Edite Estrela, and the Deputy Head of the Committee’s Secretariat, Bas Klein, visited Giorgi Gakharia at his house.
“The main issues discussed at the meeting were the developments in Georgia after the elections and the preservation of the country’s European future,” the information reads.
The delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, on their visit to Georgia, previously met with three opposition parties: the Coalition for Change, the United National Movement, and Strong Georgia.
Georgian Dream’s Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri and his deputies also met with the PACE delegation on Thursday. At the meeting, they discussed the ministry’s role in last year’s parliamentary elections.
The meeting centered on the ministry’s efforts to uphold the integrity of the electoral process, with Gomelauri highlighting the steps taken to ensure transparency and fairness. He also provided details about the police’s “effective measures” during the protests in central Tbilisi.
According to the ministry’s post-meeting statement, the discussions concluded with both parties reaffirming their commitment to ongoing collaboration and improved information-sharing.
At the beginning of the week, PACE also met with representatives of non-governmental organizations and people injured at the recent protests. As the representatives of non-governmental organizations announced before the meeting, that they were to brief the PACE speakers on the recent political and legal processes taking place in the country.
The leader of ‘Gakharia For Georgia,’ Giorgi Gakharia, was attacked in Batumi Tuesday night at the Sheraton Hotel. Gakharia was taken to a clinic, but later left of his own accord. The doctor said he sustained a fractured nasal bone and a concussion. One of the people who participated in the physical confrontation with Gakharia is Georgian Dream MP Dimitri Samkharadze. In addition to the attack on Gakharia, a confrontation took place in the same hotel with Zviad Koridze, a representative of the non-governmental sector. Samkharadze and his entourage were involved.
Mass international condemnation has since been heard, yet Gakharia has insisted that the focus remain on the issues at hand.
“Thank you very much to all of you for supporting me. Health wise, I’m doing fine. Today, first and foremost, illegal prisoners need our support. Everything else can wait,” he wrote on social media.
