Bacho Akhalaya, Ex-Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, returns to country

Bacho Akhalaya, ex-Minister of Internal Affairs, who returned to Georgia, is ready to answer all questions, related to his activities at the position of the Chief of the Department of Corrections at the Ministry of Justice.

On September 20, Bacho Akhalaya voluntarily resigned from the position of the Minister of Internal Affairs after the Georgian TV Channels disseminated records with torture of prisoners in the Gldani Prison No. 8. On the same day, Khatuna Kalmakhelidze, Minister of Corrections, resigned from her position. Later, Bacho Akhalaya and his brother David, who used to be Deputy Minister of Defence, left Georgia for some unknown destination.

Filing a letter of resignation, Bacho Akhalaya stated that he did not consider himself guilty of torture; however, he claimed responsibility for the wrong personnel policy.

Bacho Akhalaya has explained his decision to return to Georgia by his desire to take part in the investigation into his activities, should one occur. According to him, all allegations of torture, attributed to him by his opponents, is a slander.

In his statement, Bacho Akhalaya states that representatives of the coalition "Georgian Dream" have activated a dirty slandering campaign against him. "I want to state publicly that I left the country temporarily, since I did not want anyone from the ruling party to think that I in any way hinder the process of the transfer of power after free and fair elections, conducted on October 1," announces the statement of Bacho Akhalaya, disseminated today.