TBILISI: The Georgian government detained the army’s chief-of-staff yesterday on suspicion of abuse of power, stepping up what the opposition says is a political witch hunt against President Mikheil Saakashvili’s allies.
New Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s coalition ousted Saakashvili’s party in an election last month, saying it would pursue former officials it suspected of wrongdoing.
It began on Tuesday by detaining Bacho Akhalaia, a former interior and defence minister. General Georgy Kalandadze, the army’s chief-of-staff and another army commander were brought in for questioning early yesterday.
With Saakashvili’s nine-year dominance of the political landscape over the opposition says it fears a witch hunt is underway in the former Soviet republic, a focus of tension between Russia and the West and a transit country for Caspian Sea oil and gas exports to Europe.
“Recent events are a source of indignation for me as today we need supremacy of the law as never before,” Saakashvili said in a televised statement. He was reacting to news of the detentions and news of an unplanned inspection of the public broadcaster by financial police.
Saakashvili urged the government and its MPs to respect state institutions, including the armed forces and the media, and to work with him in a civilised way.
“We may not agree with each other, but we should not confront our own country,” Saakashvili said, saying recent events would not help Georgia’s efforts to join Nato ahead of a ministerial meeting of the military alliance in December.
Akhalaia, who quit as interior minister over a prison abuse scandal shortly before the election, was being detained at the prosecutor general’s office after being questioned for three hours, his lawyer said.
“The reason for his detention was that during his work as a defence minister he allegedly insulted several officers in the presence of others,” David Dekanoidze, a lawyer, told
reporters. REUTERS
