UNM: Transparency International Georgia report is regrettable and alarming for ignoring Saakashvili’s political prisoner status

This unfair and brazen continuation of the “Anti-Misha” campaign only harms the reputation of this organization, not the historical fact, recognized throughout the country and the civilized world, that Mikheil Saakashvili is being persecuted as a political prisoner of Putin and Ivanishvili, the United National Movement said in a statement responding to the report prepared by Transparency International Georgia.

“Providing comprehensive and reliable information to international political, judicial, and humanitarian institutions, as well as the media, about the mass political repression carried out by Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Russian regime is an important step toward dismantling the regime. It is also an obligation that requires the highest professional and ethical standards from human rights organizations.

The report prepared by Transparency International Georgia on the situation of political prisoners in Georgia is disappointing, incomprehensible, and alarming for the United National Movement, as well as for the vast majority of Georgian citizens, because it ignores the status of Georgia’s third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, as a political prisoner and overlooks the entire pattern of Russian-style repression against him.

In the face of fundamental humanitarian and political values, it seems inappropriate and demagogic for the organization to invoke European criteria and time frames regarding political persecution, especially given that virtually all relevant European institutions have adopted resolutions concerning the political persecution and torture of Mikheil Saakashvili.

Such actions, unfortunately, reinforce public suspicion that, in line with a narrow political and dishonest agenda, a number of political and civil actors are attempting to limit the crimes and systematic political repression of Ivanishvili’s Russian regime to only the past few years, diverting the attention of both Georgia and the international community from the fact that the mass and continuous persecution of political opponents by Ivanishvili’s ruling group has been ongoing since it came to power in 2012.

How can a list of political prisoners be compiled while excluding the country’s most well-known political prisoner, the main opponent of Putin and Ivanishvili? When we refer to him as the principal political prisoner, we are not engaging in party PR but stating what we consider to be a fact. It is clear that Ivanishvili may allow all other political prisoners to participate in political life, but not the third president, whom the oligarch fears the most.

This unfair and brazen continuation of the ‘Anti-Misha’ campaign only damages the reputation of this organization, not the historical fact, recognized throughout the country and the civilized world, that Mikheil Saakashvili is being persecuted as a political prisoner of Putin and Ivanishvili.

As Russia faces what we believe will be a catastrophic defeat by Ukraine, exposing and holding Putin’s proxies accountable for their crimes will become part of the global political agenda. Our entire society must face that moment united and free from the fears and complexes created by Russian propaganda,” the UNM stated.