Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
The former Defense Minister of Georgia, a close supporter of Mikhail Saakashvili in the Rose Revolution, but later one of his most dangerous enemies, Irakly Okruashvili, stated that he intends to run for the mayor of Gori, his native town, in June's municipal elections. The statement by “furious Irakly”, as his numerous opponents called him, was a sensation. Recently he could have been sentenced to prison for 11 years for sharking the mobile phone company of Geosel which belonged to businessman Jemal Svanidze. In 2005 the Defense Minister got away with it, but President Saakashvili suddenly recalled the story in autumn 2007, when Okruashvili shifted to the opposition and initiated anti-government demonstrations.
After the Rose Revolution, Okruashvili became the General Prosecutor and initiated a wave of arrests and expropriations, so the president decided to appoint him to the position of the Interior Minister. Here Irakly used the opportunity to “unfreeze” the conflict over South Ossetia and organized an attack at a convoy of Russian peacemakers in July 2004. Responding Moscow’s indignation, Saakashvili appointed the revolutionary to the position of the Defense Minister. Immediately Okruashvili held a press conference and accused Kiev of selling “iron debris to Georgia under the guise of military equipment.”
Finally, Saakashvili got tired of his comrade-in-arms and proposed him for the position of the Minister of Economy. It seemed Irakly took serious offence: furious General prosecutor, the head of the Interior Ministry, the Defense Minister, and suddenly… the Minister of Economy! The aggravated revolutionary declared war against the president. He was arrested and ordered out of the country to France. Saakashvili thought it was unbeneficial to imprison one of leaders of the opposition movement, Europe wouldn’t understand this.
However, Okruashvili was sentenced to prison for 11 years in absentia, after his expulsion to France. At the same time, there were many such “oddities” under Saakashvili’s regime.
Irakly came back home, when the power had changed. He considered that it was unbeneficial for the Georgian Dream to imprison one of the brightest opponents of the former authorities. The sentence was canceled as “politically motivated.”
At the same time, Irakly Okruashvili is a constant scandal and a big risk for any authorities. His political preferences include a promise to restore Stalin monument in Gori, after his electing, or his statement on legitimacy of the war against South Ossetia as realization of “the holy duty of any state to put its own territory in order.”
