Burjanadze Calls Adjarian Leader to Free Kmara Activists

Interim President Nino Burjanadze today expressed hope for settlement of the situation in the Adjara Autonomous Republic. 

“Of course, we face particular problems in Adjara, but I hope, the situation will be settled there soon and those Kmara [youth movement] activists, who were arrested in Batumi for their political position, will be released,” Nino Burjanadze said on January 13. 

The Kmara activists were arrested in Adjara on January 6 after they started to post banners in the streets of the Adjarian capital of Batumi with the slogans “Enough to Abashidze’s Dictatorship.” 

However, the Adjarian Interior Ministry ruled out political repressions on the opponents and explained its decision by finding out drugs and explosives in the apartments of the Kmara activists. The Adjarian court has already sentenced the Kmara activists to three-month pretrial detention.