Georgian opposition demands to pay ransom for kidnapped sailors from President's Fund

The party "Georgia's Way" demands to pay a ransom for Georgian sailors captured by Somalia pirates from the President's Fund. This was announced by Mamuka Baliashvili, the head of the youth wing of the party.

Mr Baliashvili believes that "after nearly a year of authorities' inaction the government must provide information on the steps under taken to protect the interests of its citizens and release them from captivity".

"We know that pirates demand one million US dollars for releasing the Georgian sailors. In this regard, we appeal to Mikhail Saakashvili demanding to allocate this amount from the President's Reserve Fund to immediately rescue our citizens from captivity," the oppositionist has emphasized.

According to his story, the country's authorities also should introduce to the public a concrete plan, in accordance to which the government plans to release the sailors, the IA "News-Georgia" reports.

"To the present day, we haven't heard any serious statement, except for the President's words, pronounced on January 25 during a telebridge about the Georgian sailors. Mikhail Saakashvili then responded to a journalist's question whether the state intended to pay the ransom and said that he was working on that issue and, despite the publicity of information, could not talk openly on the subject. We should also remind the speech of Vera Kobaliya, Minister of Economy, who emphasized that the state had no intention to pay the ransom," the "Georgia online" quotes Mr Baliashvili as saying.