‘Undue connections between political groups and law enforcement’

President Georgi Margvelashvili.

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili political groups have informal connections with law enforcement and other state bodies and are using them for political purposes.

“This trend is used for political goals,” the president said on Monday, offering to meet with the prime minister and speaker of parliament to find adequate and ‘reasonable’ answers.

Margvelashvili spoke after meeting with the head of the Constitutional Court, Giorgi Papuashvili, who informed him about specific cases of judges being subject to pressure.

The president on his part was not surprised, as there has been an attempt to put pressure on someone in his own family.

“About a month ago, there was attempt to pressure one of my family members with the involvement of law enforcement bodies. In fact, it was an imitation,” he said, and brought up an incident in June when six politicians were brutally beaten during the municipal by-elections in a village in the western part of the country.

“I have been saying for a while that there has to be a proper response to the Kortskheli incident. We have to give a vivid answer when there is an allied activity of political forces and certain groups. I want to underline that the prime minister is absolutely not engaged in these cases, however there are trends of forming certain connections on lower levels,” the president said.

He also went into some some detail about the attempted pressure on a member of his family. He said that the family member was stopped in the street and afterward the house of this person was searched without a court order. Apparently, the persons carrying out the search were hoping that it would be lead to ‘some results.’

“However, everything was clear. There were no offenses, but there were certain indications that it was an attempt to put pressure on this person.

Margvelashvili said that this type of pressure to him is ridiculous.

“I went through the Saakashvili era and this couldn’t affect me. When I saw that it is becoming a trend, I decided to talk about it,” he said.

The head of the Constitutional Court Giorgi Papuashvili said that there is pressure against certain judges.

But Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili was seen to rebuke the president on Tuesday.

“I spoke with the president […] and instructed the interior minister to rapidly provide answers. I rule out any political component here,” the PM said and called on the president and the head of the Constitutional Court to inform law enforcement bodies before ‘making political statements.’

Kvirikashvili claimed that there is an attempt to discredit the state institution.

Vice Speaker of Parliament Manana Kobakhidze claimed that the president was under the influence of alcohol when he made his controversial statements.