Burjanadze: Forces Behind Prison Riot Aimed at Destabilization

Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said on March 27 that the police used “adequate force” to prevent a jailbreak, which could have triggered “massive destabilization” in the country.

She said that in the event of a jailbreak, a “chain reaction” would have followed in other detention centers.

“And I am sure that those forces who are interested in destabilizing the country would have benefited from this,” Nino Burjanadze said.

“It is unfortunate that there are victims, but if not for all the attempts by officials to prevent bloodshed we would have witnessed even graver consequences… I think that each person who participated in curbing this mutiny and preventing its spillover into the city’s streets demonstrated personal courage and saved the country from a very serious threat,” she added.

“This was not a spontaneous [riot]. What has happened today in the prison, what has happened today in the Kodori gorge [the damage of a power line] is part of a chain and this is a very serious attack, directed at triggering disorder and destabilization in the country,” Nino Burjanadze said.