Reaction to Patarkatsishvili’s Death
As a major crime investigation unit in Britain investigates the death of Badri Patarkatsishvili, most politicians and commentators in Georgia have been reluctant to speculate on the possible cause of death. Some, however, have already pointed the finger at the Georgian authorities.
“I spoke with him several days ago and he did not complain about health problems,” Shalva Shavgulidze, a lawyer acting on behalf of Patarkatsishvili in Georgia, said. “I was going to visit him in the next few days.”
Giorgi Targamadze, a former leading journalist at Imedi TV and current leader of the newly set up Christian-Democratic Party, said he had spoken to Patarkatsishvili on the phone a month ago. He said the tyccon hadn’t mentioned any health complaint. “The last time we spoke, he said he’d had a medical check-up, which revealed no health problems, especially regarding his heart,” Targamadze said. He said, however, that it was too early to speculate on the cause of death.
“It is impossible to talk about the cause of death. I have no doubt that the British police will provide an objective assessment,” MP Gocha Jojua, Patarkatsishvili’s political associate, said. He, however, added that Patarkatsishvili had been “the victim of slander,” referring to charges brought by the Georgian authorities against Patarkatsishvili for an alleged coup plot.
“I am not in a position to speak about the cause of death,” MP Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of the New Rights Party, said. “Georgia has lost a very good patriot.”
“Saying that it was murder is untenable at this stage, because the case hasn’t even been investigated. An investigation should be carried out and the cause of death should be clarified first,” Eka Beselia of the Movement for United Georgia party said. The party, which is now part of the nine-party opposition coalition, was set up by ex-Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili.
“It is very hard to speculate now, when there is no official conclusions available from the police and investigators,” MP Kakha Kukava of the Conservative Party, also part of the nine-party opposition coalition, said.
Gia Khukhashvili, an analyst and critic of the Saakashvili administration, said “it was too early to make assumptions” of foul play. “Let’s wait for the British police’s conclusions,” Khukhashvili said. “But even if it is confirmed that there was foul play, it will not be immediately possible to claim that it was politically-motivated murder, because there could have been business interests as well. So it is too complicated.” He, however, accused the Georgian authorities of having waged a campaign of slander against Patarkatsishvili, and as such, were “of course morally responsible.”
Other politicians, however, were in no mood to wait for postmortem results or police findings. “This is a political murder committed by Mikheil Saakashvili and his administration,” Nestan Kirtadze of the opposition Labor Party said.
“Like everybody else in Georgia, I am also sure that he was murdered. We are living in a country where political opponents are being murdered,” Salome Zourabichvili, leader of the Georgia’s Way Party, part of the nine-party opposition coalition, said.
Ilia II, the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, has also commented, praising Patarkatsishvili as “a great person, whose name will live on in Georgian history.”
Predictably, ruling party lawmakers have been less willing to comment. “I do not want to comment – one shouldn’t speak ill of the dead,” MP Giga Bokeria of the ruling party said.
Meanwhile, the fate of Our Georgia, a political party set up recently by Patarkatsishvili supporters, remains unclear. “We were planning to visit London next week to discuss this issue [the future of the party],” MP Gocha Jojua said.
The fate of Imedi TV, which was owned by Patarkatsishvili, is also unknown.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
