“This process had no legal value whatsoever; it was absurd and unbelievably comical,” one of the leaders of the United National Movement, Khatia Dekanoidze, said after being questioned before a magistrate judge in connection with the death of human rights defender Lazare Jorbenadze.

As she told journalists, during the questioning at the City Court, she asked whether the authorities intended to question current Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and former senior official Mamuka Mdinaradze as part of the case.

“First of all, my question was whether they intend to question Kobakhidze and Mdinaradze - the two people whose surnames appear in former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s letter. This is important to me because that letter did not mention Khatia Dekanoidze or any other opposition figures whom they plan to question or have already questioned.

What do I or other people have to do with a letter in which Kobakhidze and Mdinaradze are mentioned? That was my main question. Of course, they told me nothing; they have no specific answer to this. They simply have instructions to create an informational ‘storm.’

First of all, I was asked whether I knew this person. The greatest absurdity is that I have never mentioned this person’s first or last name anywhere - neither on my social media, nor in a Facebook post, nor in any public statements. I can comment and ask questions about all important issues in my public appearances, but this man’s name has not appeared anywhere.

The letter contains only the names of Kobakhidze and Mdinaradze. Whether they intend to question them was my question to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor’s Office,” Dekanoidze said.

According to her, the public knows very well what was written in Irakli Garibashvili’s letter and how government representatives are trying to bring each other down.

“There are questions. There are very important cases about which the public has not received answers - for example, the Tornike Rijvadze case, the case involving the prison chief, and others, which have not been answered. Specifically, these people’s cases are connected to Bidzina Ivanishvili.

“They are summoning me over a letter in which I am not mentioned. The fact is that this is a crisis within Georgian Dream,” Dekanoidze said.

For the record, Georgia’s former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili published another letter from prison in which he asked, “What was the real reason for the death of human rights defender Lazare Jorbenadze?” He said that society still has “unanswered questions regarding a number of suicides that took place during the rule of Kobakhidze and Mdinaradze.”

Following this, the Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement confirming Lazare Jorbenadze’s suicide. According to the agency, based on public statements made by convicted Irakli Garibashvili and other individuals, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office, summoned Nika Gvaramia, Irma Inashvili, Nanuka Zhorzholiani, Khatia Dekanoidze, Tazo Datunashvili, Gia Khukhashvili, Giorgi Liluashvili, Zaza Davitaia, Ermile Nemsadze and Giorgi Gigauri for questioning as part of the ongoing investigation.