We requested visits to prisoners, especially Mzia Amaglobeli; we expressed this to the Prime Minister, the President, the Interior Minister, and the Parliament Speaker — they replied: “No,” — this was stated by the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Pere Joan Pons Sampietro, in a conversation with journalists.

“I want to tell you that we requested visits to prisoners who are in prison, especially the Sakharov Prize winner [Mzia Amaglobeli]. We expressed this to the Prime Minister, we expressed this to the country’s President, we expressed this to the Interior Minister, we expressed this to the Parliament Speaker. And they replied: ‘No.’

So, we accept the fact that the government has the right to refuse, but we asked for consideration. We believe that if you are in negotiations, or intend to negotiate accession to the European Union (we discussed this), of course you must conduct political negotiations….

And I think that the current situation, which we saw today, at a minimum, compels us to tell the government that they should consider [the prisoners’] release,” — stated Sampietro.