TBILISI, DFWatch – The European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is going to confront the Georgian government about the case of a businessman who is struggling to establish a political movement.

Georgian businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili has been subject to a number of misfortunes at the hands of the authorities after he declared his wish to go into politics and challenge Mikheil Saakashvili’s position.

The EU’s top foreign diplomat will be asking Georgian authorities what is going on, to find out whether fundamental democratic principles have been respected.

The source for this claim is the Republican Party in Georgia, which has sent out a press release saying Sir Graham Watson, the President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, discussed Ivanishvili’s case with the Republican Party leader Davit Usupashvili a week ago.

Then on Monday, Watson raised these concerns with Baroness Ashton, and requested her to bring it up with the Georgian government and get from them ‘an explanation and a guarantee that fundamental principles of political freedom and democracy will be followed’, according to the press release.

Catherine Ashton visited Georgia on November 16.