CoE Denies its Envoy was Expelled from Georgia

Council of Europe made first comments regarding the reports that Georgia has expelled CoE Secretary General?s special representative Plamen Nikolov.

?Following various articles in the Georgian and international media concerning the position of Mr Plamen Nikolov, the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the Organization?s Spokesperson and Press Division has made clear that no official request for his withdrawal has been received from the Georgian authorities,? the Council of Europe said on May 10.

?The Georgian Minister for Foreign Affairs is expected to discuss her government’s position with the Secretary General on the occasion of the 114th Session of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, which takes place in Strasbourg later this week [on May 12-13],? the CoE?s statement reads.

Council of Europe, as well as Plamen Nikolov, who is currently in Tbilisi, made no official comments regarding the recent remarks of the Georgian leadership about CoE?s Secretary General and his representative.

Plamen Nikolov was visiting Batumi, Adjarian capital with the members of the Council of Europe?s Anti-Torture Committee this weekend and arrived in Tbilisi on May 10.

On May 9 Georgian President criticized Secretary General of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer for his statements regarding Adjara and called him ?an impudent and well-paid bureaucrat.?

The statement made by Walter Schwimmer on May 2, following the explosions of three key bridges linking Adjara with the rest of Georgia by ex-Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze, triggered Georgian leadership?s protest.

Walther Schwimmer said, ?it is shocking to hear, that in ? Georgia bridges are exploded because the central and the local [Adjarian] authorities have lost their ability to dialogue.?

Speaking in Batumi University on May 9 Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili slammed Walter Schwimmer and said his statement ?was not a statement of a true European; it was a statement of impudent and well-paid bureaucrat.?

“He [Walter Schwimmer] said that both sides [central authorities and Abashidze?s regime] have lost their ability to dialogue as if both sides were equally responsible for what was happening,? Mikheil Saakashvili added.