Zourabichvili Condemns Odisharia's Justification of Georgian Citizens' Detention by Occupation Regime
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Three Georgian citizens, residents of the village of Otobaia in the occupied Gali region, have been illegally arrested by representatives of the occupation regime, according to the State Security Service of Georgia.
The occupation regime confirmed the detentions through the hotline operated by the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia, claiming that a so-called "criminal case" had been initiated against the two for allegedly organizing "illegal migration". The two citizens have been "sentenced" to two months of "pretrial detention" by the so-called "court" and are currently being held in the "Abkhazia State Security Service Isolator."
Beka Odisharia, a leader of the Georgian Dream party, commented on the detentions, controversially justifying the actions of the occupation regime. He implied that the detained citizens might have been involved in illegal activities, stating, "If a person was busy giving money in order for people to cross this artificial administrative-occupational border, naturally, unfortunately, this person also helped to arrest him." Despite this, he argued that the detained citizens should ultimately be handed over to the legitimate authorities of Georgia rather than facing the puppet regime's so-called justice.
Odisharia's comments sparked outrage, with Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili condemning his remarks as "shameful". She criticized Odisharia for appearing to accept the occupation regime's accusations without question and suggested that his statements reflect a concerning vision for future relations with the occupiers.
"Disgraceful statement by Beka Odisharia about our citizens detained in occupied Abkhazia!
You don't know what the presumption of innocence means, and what's worse, you share the accusations of the so-called law enforcement officers without question.
This seems to be the vision of settling future relations with the occupiers as understood by Georgian Dream, for which it turns out they need a constitutional majority!" Zourabichvili stated.
