“No one shall be subjected to persecution on political grounds in Georgia, and then the need for such amnesties will be gone. The new government should make every effort for this. Society, media, non-governmental and international organizations need to be more vigilant and uncompromising than under the previous government, which took those decisions on which hundreds of people were imprisoned for political reasons because of the lack of monitoring,”
As Georgian Dream MP Zakaria Kutsnashvili told news agency “PenzaNews,”
“In the past year, many people in Georgia were persecuted on political grounds, some were oppressed just because of their political views. We promised our voters to announce a large-scale amnesty in Georgia after coming to power. Despite all the difficulties, the Parliament was able to overcome the presidential veto, and the law went into effect. Georgia is the first country in the former Soviet Union that officially acknowledged the existence of political prisoners. We have made it clear to the community that people cannot be persecuted or arrested on political grounds because they are born free and have the right to criticize the government, not to like it and oppose it,” the politician stated.
According to him, Mikhail Saakashvili has vetoed the bill, not willing to recognize the existence of political prisoners.
“In his years of power, he [Mikhail Saakashvili]
Meanwhile, the deputy noted that representatives of the Georgian Dream will remain supporters of pro-Western foreign policy.
“We are not going to adjust foreign policy. But this does not mean that we will not try to improve and normalize relations with Russia,” he said, adding that some of the issues need not only negotiation but decision-making.
“Transport, humanitarian and visa communications as well as the other areas of human relations need to be improved, and we hope that Russian authorities will take the steps towards it,” Georgian Dream MP noted.
In turn, Kakha Kukava, Chairman of Free Georgia party suggested that Georgian Government should make more effort to normalize the bilateral relations.
“For the current government the priority is the relationship with the United States, and it is a big mistake because Georgia cannot get any benefit of the US-Georgian relations in the sphere of politics, economy and security even in a theoretical sense. However, Russian-Georgian relations are vitally important for the country: Georgia’s economy is totally dependent on the Russian market and investments, the future of the Georgian territories – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – also depends on the relationship between Russia and Georgia. In addition, we belong to the Orthodox Christian Church which unites these two states in the spiritual and cultural sense,” the politician said.
“As for the US, it was just Mikhail Saakashvili’
However, in his opinion, much is changing for the better. Thus, the main achievement of the new government, according to Kakha Kukava, is stabilization of psychological background in the country and provision of more political freedom.
“After the arrival of the new government, they do not arrest people on political grounds, do not disperse demonstrations, or ban free television. The situation cannot to be compared with Saakashvili’
According to him, Free Georgia party fully supports the ongoing amnesty of political prisoners and the release of “common criminals.”
Full text news agency "PenzaNews": http://penzanews.ru/
