Interfax: Saakashvili says his imprisonment in Georgia is among preconditions for normal relations with Moscow

BRUSSELS. Oct 29 (Interfax) – Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told journalists in Brussels on Tuesday that he believes his arrest is among the preconditions for normalization of relations between Moscow and Tbilisi.

“As for my personal future, certainly, I have two or three weeks more to finish my presidential term. We have changed everything in this country in ten years. But the Georgian prime minister repeatedly threatened me with prosecution. He even said that I must be sent to prison. This is true,” Saakashvili said in commenting on his future in Georgia.

Saakashvili claimed that the same was heard from Russian leaders.

“Announcing anyone’s arrest beforehand is not consistent with democracy. I think this doesn’t meet our democratic European future. This is against the Georgian people’s will and against the spirit of democracy,” he said.

While in Brussels during what he described as his farewell visit, the Georgian president met with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Both said at a news briefing following the meeting that they discussed the problem of selective justice in Georgia among other things.

“Selective justice affects the former Georgian prime minister, Mr. Vano Merabishvili, who is in pretrial detention, which is absolutely unnecessary if you look at the charges brought against him. The same concerns Bacho Akhalaya, a former defense and interior minister,” Saakashvili said when asked to clarify this point in his discussion with Barroso.

Saakashvili said 25,000 activists of the party United National Movement, which he leads, are under investigation or have been questioned by law enforcement agencies. “This is something aimed against principles of democracy, especially after government in our country changed without any excesses and after elections, on our part, passed in the spirit of openness and democracy,” he said.

[featured image is file photo]