Levan Karumidze, First Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on European Integration echoed the letter panned by MEP Anna Fotyga urging to stop Saakashvili’s imprisonment before his “fair trial.”

Karumidze said, “I don’t know yet which MEPs fell for this letter. I hate to say it, but those who did are too far from being friends of Georgia. European Union needs a strong and resilient partner in this region, not just a weak and useless chunk of territory.”

Karumidze pledges to continue active engagement “with our true friends and partners at the European Parliament to further build a genuine, western democracy, which is based on real European values.”

According to the letter, “Saakashvili should be released in order to pave a way for a national agreement aimed at stability, ending the crises in Georgia and restore the course that the Georgian people want for the future of their nation.”

Law enforcers arrested Mikheil Saakashvili in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on October 1. He kicked off a hunger striker day after detention.

The ex-president is charged with several criminal offences. In 2018, he was sentenced to six years in prison in absentia for abuse of power.

I don’t know yet which MEPs fell for this letter. I hate to say it, but those who did are too far from being friends of #Georgia. #EuropeanUnion needs a strong & resilient partner in this region, not just a weak & useless chunk of territory. 1/2 https://t.co/yd1RvCpS33

— Levan Karumidze (@KarumidzeL) October 14, 2021