Abashidze Rejects Links to Attack on Opposition Activist

Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze said on December 23, that beating, or intimidation of his opponents is not in his interests.

“It is not my politics,” he added, while commenting regarding the attack on opposition activist Levan Kacharava.

Kacharava is the head of the Adjarian Civil Society Committee, which criticizes Aslan Abashidze for unilateral rule in the Autonomous Republic. The committee has recently launched collection of signatures of the Adjarian residents demanding participation in the January 4 presidential elections.

Levan Kacharava was kidnapped and severely beaten in Batumi, the Adjarian capital on December 22. He undergoes treatment in Tbilisi; he said that the doctors in Batumi refused to see him.

Levan Kacharava said that Aslan Abashidze is personally responsible for the incident, which aimed at mounting pressure on him.

“My friends and those persons, including many professors of the Batumi University are in danger, as there is threat of their intimidation from the local authorities [of the Autonomous Republic],” Levan Kacharava told reporters in Tbilisi.