DOES MICHAEL SAAKASHVILI PLAY FOR AN ADVANCE?
PanARMENIAN.Net
Analytical Department
29.09.2007 GMT+04:00
Georgia is again in fever and most probably the present situation will
last till the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled at
the end of 2008.
"Scandalous" disclosure of Saakashvili’s former brother-in-arms gave
rise to a number of resentments among the population, which in spite
of the assistance from the West continues living in the same poor
conditions as it used to in the times of Eduard Shevarnadze. Words
about "democracy building" warm the heart, but do not feed the stomach.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to the leader of the Armenian Community in
Tbilisi Arnold Stepanyan, the aim of the people who have held meetings
on Rustaveli Avenue, was more to speak against Saakashvili rather than
to support Okruashvili, who is no better than the current President
of Georgia. "About 4.000 people were present at the meeting," said
Stepanyan and added, "people do not count on any good by the change of
one dictator with another". It should be mentioned that this meeting
was the largest anti-governmental action since 2003, when Michael
Saakashvili came to power in the result of "revolution of roses".
However let’s turn back to the disgraced brother-in-arms. Most likely,
Michael Saakashvili will soon get rid of all those people who helped
him realize the "revolution of roses". After the Zurab Zhvani’s
death committed in very mysterious circumstances the Minister of
Foreign Affairs Salome Zourabichvili, Minister Ivlian Khaindrava,
and after all Irakli Okruashvili resigned. In fact, Saakashvili is
getting rid of potential rivals for the Presidential Elections and in
this case he follows the example of colleague Ilham Aliyev, who acts
and will always act in a similar way. On September 28 the City Court
of Tbilisi sentenced the country’s former Minister of Defence Irakli
Okruashvili to two-month imprisonment in Rustav prison N 6. One of
his followers, the former representative of President of Georgia in
Shida region of Kartli Michael Kareli who had been arrested earlier
is in the same prison.
Irakli Okruashvili was arrested on October 27 in the downtown Tbilisi
in the office of his newly established oppositional movement "For
United Georgia". The Office of Public Prosecutor brought an accusation
against him according to four articles of the criminal code of Georgia;
181 – blackmail, 194 – money-grubbing, 332 – abuse of position, and 342
– working negligence. The arrested faces 25-year-imprisonment. Earlier
Okruashvili made several breaking announcements, where he accused
President of Georgia Michael Saakashvili of unlawful acts. In
particular the former Minister of Defence on his appearance on TV
accused the President of having organized the murder of several
"influential figures" of the country. The accusations were qualified
by the official authorities as "groundless and false".
It should be mentioned that Saakashvili’s political rivals in general
are weak and haven’t posed any serious threat for him so far. Democrat
rules with an "iron hand". However, as the experts believe over the
last several months Irakli Okruashvili has gained political power
and may make an influential political figure. His arrest united the
uncoordinated oppositional parties as well as gave the inhabitants
the possibility to express their opinion about the never ending
problems of the country. The most interesting thing is that Michael
Saakashvili’s actions immediately received support from US Department
of States. "The details of the arrest of Irakli Okruashvili are not
known to me. I think that it is connected with some criminal rather
than politics. This is connected with getting things put in order in
the country. The final verdict will be reached by the court. If the
society has any doubts the investigation must be carried out with
more carefulness and scrupulousness," announced Matthew Bryza, US
Deputy Assistant Secretary. According to him the superiority of law,
the court and law machinery of Georgia become more and more powerful.
By the way, Saakashvili himself, who had flown to New York before
his former brother-in-arms, accused him of corruption and organizing
political murders returned to Georgia. Most likely Okruashvili’s
arrest will not be the last one, for elections are to be held in a
year only, which is a sufficient period to settle accounts with all
the rivals having the strong support from US State Department.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
