The PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs for Georgia, Titus Corlăţean (Romania, SOC) and Claude Kern (France, ALDE) said on February 24 that “while no-one should be above the law, the police raid on the UNM Headquarters and the arrest of opposition leader Nika Melia have unnecessarily escalated tensions” between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition.
The PACE monitors argued the police raid also deepened the political crisis in the country. Instead, they said, “Georgia’s democratic development needs restraint, dialogue and compromise, not escalation and confrontation.”
The co-rapporteurs called on all sides to refrain from further escalation and “to return to the negotiating table in order to find a political and mutually acceptable solution to resolve the ongoing crisis.”
Also read:
- U.S. Helsinki Commission Calls for Melia Release, Dialogue
- U.S. ‘Deeply Troubled’ By Melia’s Detention
- Int’l Reactions: Georgian Dream Under Fire Over UNM Raid, Melia Detention
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