Labor Party Leader Attacks Opposition, Saakashvili

Shalva Natelashvili, leader of the Labor Party, has again lashed out at both the other opposition parties and President Saakashvili. It is not the first time he has done so since May’s parliamentary elections were called.

Speaking about Saakashvili in a political talk show, Primetime, aired by Rustavi 2 TV late on April 14, Natelashvili said: “Leaders, who dare to treat their people as was done on November 7, end up like [Slobodan] Milosevic and [Nicolae] Ceausescu.”

“I want to have power to get back Georgia’s independence and sovereignty, which has been sold by Saakashvili to [Secretary General of the Council of Europe] Terry Davis, [U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mathew] Bryza and other [foreign] bureaucrats.”

Natelashvili also said that Saakashvili was “a puppet” of the U.S. administration. “He [Saakashvili] was sitting at the feet of [U.S. President George] Bush [at a meeting in Washington in March] like a poodle,” Natelashvili added.

Of the other opposition parties, Natelashvili said: “These are the people who yesterday were part of [ex-President Eduard] Shevardnadze’s party, or part of Saakashvili’s National Movement; they are the people who have been funded by Soros; they are slaves of the foreign colonizers, who have turned the entire country into a slave.”