Georgian opposition hopes for the West in releasing political prisoners

The leaders of the Conservative Party of Georgia have drafted and delivered to western diplomats a list of political prisoners kept in Georgian prisons.

Mainly, the point is about the supporters of the opposition, arrested during or after spring and autumn protest actions. Some of them are accused of drug dealing, others of keeping arms or resistance to the police. The list contains 70 names.

The information about the list prepared by the oppositionists was announced by Zviad Dzidziguri, one of the leaders of the Conservative Party, in his interview to Radio Liberty.

The political prisoners are divided into 13 categories; among them there are participants of protest actions in April-June 2009, the militaries accused of organizing the Mukhrovani mutiny, supporters of Igor Giorgadze, arrested in October-November 2007, the persons arrested after the August war of 2008 and a number of other categories of political prisoners.

Although the data is not final, and the work continues, the opposition plans to hand the list with description of political prisoners' cases over to international organizations and the diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia.

At the same time, Shota Utiashvili, one of high-ranking bosses of the MIA, believes that in all the cases listed by the opposition the issue is just banal criminal. For example, according to his story, two activists of the opposition, having committed a robbery, tried to hide in the camp of the opposition, hoping that the police would not be let there.