TBILISI, DFWatch — Georgia’s Prime Minister says the opposition should not jump to conclusions about the recent events and call it a political game.

Bidzina Ivanishvili told journalists that the detention of two military tops and a former defense minister should not be classified as political arrests.

He said this on Wednesday, as Bacho Akhalaia, former government official and Saakashvili’s loyalist, Chair of General Headquarters and the Commander of the Fourth Brigade were detained, accused for abusing their powers.

Until a court has found them guilty, it is not correct to call them so, Ivanishvili says.

“Even though the opposition has called the detention of former officials a political game, none of them have asked what the prosecutor’s office has written,” he said. “Let them wait 48 hours, see and listen. They do not listen to anything, but claim that these are political arrests.”

The Prime Minister calls for people to listen to the testimonies and the grounds for why all this happened.

“They know perfectly well that those arrested have committed a number of crimes,” he said, adding that until a court determines what has happened, those people should not be declared guilty.

Bacho Akhalaia, who is associated with most of the prison abuse cases and riots in prisons, was yesterday night questioned at the Prosecutor’s Office, and four hours later detained.

After the election results were known, he left the country and people suspected he had run away; however a few days ago he said he had returned and was ready to answer every question regarding his actions, to cooperate with the investigation and said he was responsible for his own actions.

The next day, the commander of the Fourth Brigade of Georgia’s armed forces and the Chair of the General Headquarters, who was appointed only a month ago by the president, were also detained on the same accusations.