Saakashvili: ‘Deserting Soldiers’ Must be Punished

President Mikheil Saakashvili said on December 22, that all those soldiers who deserted their military unit and protested against the bad social conditions in the army “should go to jail.”

Saakashvili met with Commander of the Internal Troops Givi Tatukhashvili and incoming Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili on December 22 to discuss the recent incident in the army.

In his televised statement, made after the meeting, the President spoke tough about those 60 servicemen who deserted their military unit in Mukhrovani outside Tbilisi and described them as “undisciplined soldiers.”

“I want to categorically state that if we fail to establish order in the army, we will fail to build the nation… All the officers and soldiers who run away [from the military unit] must be punished; all of them should go to jail,” Mikheil Saakashvili said.

“At the same time, you should do your best to provide everything: heating, food and everything to those soldiers who serve as they should… I am instructing Irakli Okruashvili to visit each and every military unit in Georgia to inspect conditions there,” Saakashvili said.

“We must establish order in the army,” he added.

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