The United Kingdom is deeply concerned by the pre-trial detention of Georgian opposition leader Zurab Japaridze, the British Embassy in Georgia said in a statement.

The Embassy said that “his detention is a wholly disproportionate measure, aimed to intimidate and silence political opposition.”

“The United Kingdom is deeply concerned by the pre-trial detention of Georgian opposition leader Zurab Japaridze. His detention is a wholly disproportionate measure, aimed to intimidate and silence political opposition. Coming alongside the passing of a law to ban opposition parties, and statements from the Georgian Dream party about declaring opposition parties unconstitutional, this is further evidence of Georgia’s serious democratic decline. Pluralistic, multi-party democracy is an essential part of Euro-Atlantic values. Georgian Dream must reverse these anti-democratic measures now,” the embassy says in a statement posted on its Facebook page.