Opposition MP Beaten in Tbilisi

A lawmaker from a newly established opposition parliamentary faction, Merab Khurtsidze, was attacked and beaten up late on November 26 in Tbilisi. Khurtsidze said there were five assailants.

Khurtsidze, who has kept a low profile in Parliament, quit the ruling National Movement party and joined Our Georgia faction in October.

?They stopped my car and immediately started to verbally insult me and then attacked me,? Khurtsidze said and added that it was not a robbery, because attackers did not take any of his belongings.

Our Georgia parliamentary faction is led by MP Valeri Gelbakhiani, who said on November 26 that it would represent business tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili?s political interests. Gelbakhiani arranged on November 26 formal procedures needed for Patarkatsishvili to become an official presidential candidate. 

Gelbakhiani said that the attack on his colleague was ?a political reprisal? by the authorities.

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