Interim President Nino Burjanadze made first comments today regarding the arrest of the Kmara opposition movement activists by the Adjarian authorities.
“If these young people are really arrested because of expressing their position, certainly this is inadmissible,” Interim President Nino Burjanadze said at a news briefing on January 9.
“Such an action is to be condemned. We will not permit illegal arrest of any person. We will do our best to release them as soon as possible,” Nino Burjanadze said at a news briefing on January 9.
The Adjarian law-enforcement agencies detained Kmara activists on January 6. Georgian media reported on January 9, that three more activists of the youth movement were detained in Batumi.
During the recent days, the Kmara movement started posting banners in the streets of the Adjarian capital of Batumi with the slogans “Enough to Abashidze’s Dictatorship.”
The Adjarian Interior Ministry ruled out political repressions. Adjarian officials say that the police have found a cache of illegal weapons, drugs and counterfeit U.S. dollars in the apartments of the alleged Kmara activists.
The Adjarian court sentenced today two Kmara activists to three-month pretrial detention.