On 20 February, the former Interior and Prime Minister of Georgia and one of the most influential figures of the United National Movement (UNM) government, Vano Merabishvili left prison after serving almost seven years, stating that he will return to politics and ‘guarantee’ the end of the current Georgian Dream leadership, reported agenda.ge.
Standing at Matrosovi prison Merabishvili told the media that the opposition is united around key demands. However, his close friends are now in different opposition parties. “I will meet all of them and make a decision which party to join afterwards,” he said. He also stated that by the end of the year the Georgian Dream government would be overthrown and the Matrosovi prison gate would be open wide for political prisoners.
In addition, he addressed police officers, saying that he will do his best to restore confidence and dignity of law enforcers in the country and also improve the social situation.
The Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia responded to Merabishvili’s statements, saying that “there have been several attempts to topple the government, but they have never succeeded.” He added that the goal of the government is to create a better future and a strong state, which will be the country of opportunities, not a place for coups and overthrows.
In turn, ruling party parliamentarians Nukri Kantaria, Via Volski and Irakli Sesiashvili said that Merabishvili is the person “who was demanding dead bodies from his employees and issued orders to brutally disperse demonstrations and he will never gain public support again.”
Giga Bokeria, one of the leaders of the opposition European Georgia, believed that Merabishvili's detention was a stain on Georgia's recent democracy. As he told reporters, Bidzina Ivanishvili's political repression targeted people who represent a political danger to him and his power. “This person had been in jail for seven years and I can't talk on his behalf. He has to say it. I am just glad that after serving such a sentence of seven years in confinement, the political prisoner has now been released. He is my friend,“ he said.
Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of the New Georgia party, said that the fight for freedom continues and Vano Merabishvili will play his part in it. In light of Ivanishvili's 8-year rule, the success and progress that Georgia achieved from 2003 to 2012 was clearly visible, he said.
Founder of the Lelo for Georgia political movement Mamuka Khazaradze said that his party has no plans to cooperate with Merabishvili and distances itself from any forcible change of the government, but said that if Merabishvili faces additional charges and is returned to prison he will be a political prisoner.
Merabishvili was detained in May 2013, a year after the Georgian Dream coalition defeated the United National Movement in parliamentary elections. He has been serving a sentence for several convictions, including for the brutal dispersal of an opposition rally on May 26, 2011, the murder case of Sandro Girgvliani and the attack on opposition MP Valeri Gelashvili. The sentence for the charges was six years and nine months in total, as the charges were merged. Merabishvili may face further charges for the raid on Imedi TV in 2007 and the dispersal of another rally on 7 November 2007. The UNM said that Merabishvili was a political prisoner, which was not confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights. Merabishvili was considered one of the successful ministers in power under Mikhail Saakashvili, who came to power as a result of the “Rose Revolution”. A radical police reform in Georgia is associated with his name, which many neighbouring countries still consider the most successful model of reform. At the same time, many say that he abused his power on a large scale when he was the Minister of the Interior and the Prime Minister of Georgia.
