Amendment No. 25 | Doc. 13588 | 30 September 2014

The functioning of democratic institutions in Georgia

Signatories: Ms Marietta de POURBAIX-LUNDIN, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Pedro AGRAMUNT, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Volodymyr ARIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Tinatin BOKUCHAVA, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Henryk CIOCH, Poland, EDG ; Mr Bernd FABRITIUS, Germany, EPP/CD ; Ms Doris FIALA, Switzerland, ALDE ; Mr Axel E. FISCHER, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Valeriu GHILETCHI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Mr Margus HANSON, Estonia, ALDE ; Mr Mariusz KAMIŃSKI, Poland, EDG ; Mr Giorgi KANDELAKI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Arkadiusz MULARCZYK, Poland, EDG ; Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Ms Liliana PALIHOVICI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Mr Kimmo SASI, Finland, EPP/CD ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

Origin - 2014 - Fourth part-session

In the draft resolution, paragraph 2, after the second sentence, insert the following sentence:

"It has to be noted that 2 years on, almost the entire leadership of the former ruling party has been arrested or is under prosecution or investigation: former PM and UNM Secretary General, Vano Merabishvili, former Defence Minister, Bacho Akhalaia, and former Tbilisi mayor and UNM campaign mangager, Gigi Ugulava, are in prison (pre-trial detention). The former President, Mikheil Saakashvili, has also been charged and sentenced to pre-trial detention in absentia as well as former Minister of Defence, David Keserashvili, and former Minister of Justice, Zurab Adeishvili."

Explanatory note

This amendment aims to state what is undisputed: prosecution en masse of opposition figures and, in particular, frequent application of pre-trial detention against them (noted in the report) has become a serious sign of Georgia's democratic backsliding.