TBILISI, DFWatch — Ani Nadareishvili, wife of the detained former interior and defense minister Bacho Akhalaia, is founding a new non-governmental organization (NGO).

The new NGO will request official statistics about the criminal cases recently from the interior ministry. Representatives of the organization say that they will demand a response to why people were fired from public agencies.

Bacho Akhalaia, a close ally of President Mikheil Saakashvili, was arrested November 7, six days after the parliamentary elections. He was charged with physically and verbally abusing six soldiers in October 2011 while he was defense minister. Akhalaia’s supporters considered it a politically motivated arrest.

Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili commented on the arrest of Bacho Akhalaia, saying that there were legal grounds to detain him.

“This was not a political arrest, and as far as I know there were legal grounds to detain him,” he said, adding that all happened in keeping with legal procedures.

Ani Nadareishvili held a press conference on November 30.

“After the change of government, a very difficult period has begun in our country. Persecution and firing on political background, pressure on the media and governance. There is information that instances of crime and corruption have increased,” said Ani Nadareishvili.

The center of Freedom and Support will be open for every person who consider himself or herself a victim of the new government.