Foreign media on arrest of Georgian opposition leader
Leading foreign editions have published articles about Monday’s Supreme Court verdict against Gigi Ugulava, one of the leaders of the opposition in Georgia.
Reuters writes that Georgian opposition leader Gigi Ugulava was sentenced on Monday to 38 months in jail on charges of misusing public funds while mayor of Tbilisi.
The article reads that Ugulava was first imprisoned for a similar offense in September 2015, for four-and-a-half years, but was freed in January 2017 after his sentence was reduced.
„A year later, Ugulava, mayor of Tbilisi from 2005-2013 and now one of Georgia’s most active opposition leaders, was sentenced again, to 15 months in prison, in the same case, but his sentence was considered to have been served,“ the article reads.
“Dozens of ex-officials including an ex-prime minister have been arrested on charges such as abuse of power and corruption since Georgian Dream came to power in 2012 after defeating then-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s party in an election.
Several criminal cases have been opened against opposition leaders amid mass protests against the government and Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ruling Georgian Dream party that began last summer, and several arrests have been made,“ Reuters writes adding that opposition parties are demanding a reform of the electoral system reform before a parliamentary election in October.
Reuters notes that critics accuse Ivanishvili, a business tycoon and leader of Georgian Dream, of “running the country from behind the scenes.”
“Western countries have expressed concerns that the government of the former Soviet republic of 3.7 million people has used selective justice to persecute political opponents, an allegation that officials deny,” the article reads.
“Opposition leader Gigi Ugulava slams his sentence for graft” – this is the title of the article published by Deuche Welle.
“Georgia's top court has slapped a prison term of over three years on one of the country's leading opposition figures, Gigi Ugulava. The ex-mayor of Tbilisi claims the ruling is the work of oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili,” the article reads.
Deuche Welle writes that the billionaire oligarch Ivanishvili served as the country's prime minister in 2012 and 2013. While he currently holds no state office, his critics believe him to be the most powerful person in the ex-Soviet country and the true force behind the current prime minister, Giorgi Gakharia.
“Ivanishvili's party faced criticism from abroad over the recent crackdown on civic protests. The November protests were caused by the Georgian Dream promising, and then rejecting, electoral reform of the system which tends to favor the ruling party.
In addition to Ugulava, several other major opposition leaders and independent media owners have either been put on trial or currently face prosecution. Ugulava has already served prison time for other graft charges,” the article reads.
The Supreme Court of Georgia has found Gigi Ugulava, one of the leaders of opposition European Georgia party, guilty of misspending GEL 48 million of public money from Tbilisi Development Fund, while serving as the mayor of the capital city, and sentenced him to three years and two months in jail.
