Witch-hunt launched in Georgia?

PanARMENIAN.Net - David Usupashvili who was elected the new parliament speaker on Sunday, said an investigation committee will be set up within the parliament to look into the “crimes” committed during the reign of president Mikheil Saakashvili. According to Usupashvili, several cases are expected to make quite a stir.

“Unfortunately, the wording “criminals” was neither a metaphor nor a political symbol, but the precise expression of the state of things. I suspect that a lot will become public soon, and we’ll learn about specific facts of violence, elite corruption, and political persecution. Still, we should follow a very narrow path so that not to run to either revanchism or indifference. If there is indifference our people will do the same,” Usupashvili said in an interview with RIA Novosti news agency prior to his election as speaker.

In addition, he said the parliament intends to create an investigation committee, to be headed perhaps by his spouse Tinatin Khidasheli. Both Usupashvili and Khidasheli are leaders of the Republican Party of Georgia.

“A new prosecutor general will be appointed; the police structures will undergo changes. We expect several notorious cases. By no means should we follow the Ukrainian path of Timoshenko’s case,” Usupashvili declared. The new political leadership also plans to finalize the investigation processes within a year.

The Georgian Dream will not perhaps limit itself to Saakashvili’s allies; criminal proceedings may be instituted against the president as well. This is not a very challenging task, particularly taking into account the fact that the U.S. has ceased to view Saakashvili as the “key democrat of the Caucasus”. So, Mikheil Saakashvili may soon appear “persona non-grata” not only in Georgia but in his favourite West as well.

Meanwhile, political scientist Ramaz Sakvarelidze labeled the speech of the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili at the first meeting of the new parliament as “annoying”. “The presidential statement was annoying in the way he preached to the people what the democracy is, and said the “winner takes it all” phrase should not exist,” Sakvarelidze declared. According to him, this is the very formula the ruling National Movement Party has been following during the past eight years.

“Taking this into account, Saakashvili’s cynicism sounded inappropriate. This was the reason for the National Movement's defeat,” the expert noted adding that the majority of those present clearly expressed their attitude to the president by remaining seated when he entered the hall.

Meanwhile, Saakashvili’s so-called allies are fleeing the country.

Defense Minister Dmitry Shashkin left Georgia, following the former Interior Minister Bacho Akhalaia directly linked to notorious Gldani jail scandal.

On the eve of the recent parliamentary elections he rationally left for the U.S. for a “working visit” and never came back. On October 22, he published a statement on his Facebook page saying he “made a decision to leave Georgia”. “Georgia’s former defense minister Dmitry Shashkin’s decision to leave the country is a choice of an irresponsible person; a defense minister leaving his position and fleeing abroad is absolutely unacceptable and not serious. The defense minister must have the responsibility. Relevant bodies will perhaps find out the reason why he left,” says Irakly Sesiashvili, chairman of the parliamentary defense and security committee. Shashkin is worth mentioning here particularly because it was him who eradicated teaching of the Armenian language in Javakhk. Generally, the whole government of Georgia was becoming less and less competent with the time, but the last one hit highest.

However, no changes are to be expected so far with regard to the “Armenian issue”. Georgia’s Armenian community has got used to voting for the ruling power; it will further exist and diminish gradually. Meanwhile, figures like Van Bayburt, who was there during the reign of Gamsakhurdia, Shevardnadze, Saakashvili and undoubtedly will be there with Ivanishvili as well, will put an end to the existence of the Armenian community of Georgia. The Azerbaijani one will exist a bit longer, and finally, the dream of the Georgian nationalists – “Georgia for Georgians” will come true, with Bidzina Ivanishvili being the most successful one in this.