For Georgia’s Khvedeliani: Political persecution of Gakharia threatens Georgia’s territorial integrity

“Following yesterday’s meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism, Egor Kochiev, head of the Tskhinvali occupation regime delegation, stated that their only option is the removal of the Georgian police checkpoint from the territory of the ‘Republic of South Ossetia’. He also expressed satisfaction that negotiations are progressing positively, which is reflected in the criminal case launched against Giorgi Gakharia,” said MP Tata Khvedeliani, a member of the political council of the Gakharia for Georgia party.

According to Khvedeliani, “this statement directly confirms Tskhinvali’s claims over the village of Chorchana in the Khashuri municipality, which they had planned to seize through creeping methods in 2019.”

“Despite the gravity of the issue, the Georgian authorities are concealing this fact. Our representatives involved in the negotiations are hiding from the public that the talks concern the abolition of the Chorchana checkpoint, and we only learn about this from Ossetian and foreign media sources.

The political persecution against Giorgi Gakharia causes serious and irreversible harm to Georgia’s territorial integrity and constitutes a betrayal of national interests. All those responsible will be held accountable,” Khvedeliani concluded.