GD’s Machavariani agrees with NGOs on not including Saakashvili in list of political prisoners

“It was the only instance when I agreed with rich NGOs on something when they said that Saakashvili was not a political fugitive. Then they faced bullying from Saakashvili, did not withstand the pressure and in the end included him on the list of political prisoners,” said Levan Machavariani, a member of the parliamentary majority.

According to Machavariani, the NGOs labelled embezzled funds as “Suits case” when Saakashvili is a “murderer” and “creator of murder regime.”

Levan Machavariani described the Head of Transparency International – Georgia (TI-Georgia), Eka Gigauri, as “the agent and representative of the UNM.”

“Saakashvili is not a political prisoner; I said this back then, and it was the only instance where I agreed with the wealthy NGOs. At the time, they stated that Saakashvili was not a victim of political persecution. Later, however, they faced bullying from Saakashvili; the Nats [members of the United National Movement] could not withstand this internal pressure, and consequently, they ultimately included him on that list,” he said.

The organisation Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) announced on September 25 that former President Mikheil Saakashvili will be included in the list of political prisoners compiled by the monitoring group.

For context, Transparency International Georgia had previously compiled a similar list of political prisoners from which the former president was excluded. That decision had drawn criticism from Mikheil Saakashvili himself at the time.