TBILISI, DFWatch – A former public servant who joined an opposition party was released later Friday evening.

The Interior Minister said that Zaza Sopromadze was not arrested, but was only called in to the Prosecutor’s Office as a witness.

Police came to Sopromadze’s home at 4 am and took him in for 16 hours of questioning.

Sopromadze told Interpressnews following his release that this form of witness interview is unacceptable to him.

The prosecutor’s questions centered on his former position as director of the state social insurance fund. In 2006, he was found guilty of having abused his powers, and is currently on probation.

Nino Burjanadze, leader of the party he is member of, Democratic Movement United Georgia, claimed that the detention of Sopromadze was part of a wave of harassment against political opponents of the government.

Burjanadze was one of the three leaders of the peaceful coup in 2003 which brought Mikheil Saakashvili to power. She was Speaker of Parliament for years, but left the ruling party in 2008 and formed her own party, Democratic Movement United Georgia.