Armed attack against Alexi Petriashvili must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible brought to justice - Main contents
The armed attack against Alexi Petriashvili, one of the leaders of our Georgian sister-party Free Democrats, who suffered three gunshot wounds on February 26, is shocking and must be swiftly investigated.
Following the attack, that comes in a tense period ahead of the October parliamentary elections, ALDE Group leader, Guy Verhofstadt said:
"I am deeply concerned by this violent attack against Alexi Petriashvili and I wish him a swift recovery. I trust Georgian authorities will conduct a thorough investigation and those responsible will be brought to justice."
ALDE Party President, Hans van Baalen (VVD, The Netherlands) continued:
“The European Liberal and Democrat family stands by our Free Democrats fellows in Georgia and I demand a full investigation into this case to bring results as soon as possible. This is a violent criminal assault, which has to be punished as such.”
ALDE MEP, Javier Nart (Ciudadanos, Spain), shadow rapporteur on Georgia, added:
“The party in power in Georgia is in the hands of the country's major businessman, whose government is composed primarily by former members of his different companies and banks... This corresponds to a political pathology. Business and politics must be completely and drastically differentiated.”
Alexi Petriashvili, who served as the state minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, was beaten and then shot at by two unknown men while visiting a grave of his late friend at the Saburtalo cemetery in Tbilisi on February 26. There is no official word yet from police on the identities or motivations of the attackers.
Leaders of the Free Democrats party said that the police should treat the case as attempted murder instead of intentional infliction of grave injury.