“The most suspicious is Alain Berset’s meeting with Bidzina Ivanishvili, about which he hasn’t released any public information,” stated Giorgi Vashadze, one of the leaders of the opposition Unity-National Movement.

According to him, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe will have to provide additional explanations about this.

“The self-proclaimed regime has failed in all attempts to use this person’s visit for legitimization purposes. This is very important. No one recognizes the regime currently governing Georgia. Regarding this person’s statements, they are completely detached from reality, I want to say directly. We’re talking about mass human rights violations, torture, and inhuman treatment. We’re talking about the immediate and unconditional release of people detained under criminal charges, which self-proclaimed Irakli Kobakhidze mockingly responded to this person about, and third, his meeting with Ivanishvili raises the biggest suspicion, about which he didn’t release any public information,” stated Giorgi Vashadze.

According to Vashadze, when President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Bidzina Ivanishvili, he provided detailed information to the public about what was discussed and what specific positions were held.

“This person’s silence and ignoring specific questions regarding the conversation with Ivanishvili raises suspicion. Therefore, he will have to provide additional explanations about this. I’m confident that with both Council of Europe mechanisms and other mechanisms that will necessarily become involved and activated, we will demand that he provide detailed information to the public about what was discussed with the main author of the regime. He has no right to hide the content of the meeting and ignore this fact, this is the reality that he must necessarily face,” stated Giorgi Vashadze.

According to him, engagement should focus on two issues: the immediate release of all political prisoners, including patriots illegally detained under criminal charges, and setting new elections and conditions for holding them.

“We have nothing else to discuss with Ivanishvili’s fading sanctioned regime. He received this clear answer directly at the meeting. I attended that meeting so that he couldn’t say later that we didn’t have a meeting with the opposition and I didn’t know this position. Regarding the positions he voiced, be it Russian law or other issues, unfortunately, this person didn’t even mention these topics at the meeting, and suddenly we learned about these topics from the public space. The issue here isn’t about Russian law, the issue is about the seizure of power, and inhumane treatment, which needs a strict response. He couldn’t avoid the fact that the torture committee will have to make an additional visit to Georgia to investigate these torture cases,” stated Giorgi Vashadze.