Parliament Can Lose Opposition Again

Georgian parliamentarians cannot get through the history. The Parliament Committee for the Investigation of the Death of the First Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia has come to a dead-lock right after starting its activity. A deputy of the party in power Bejan Khuridze said he would stop his work if the committee was not given the status of a court of inquiry. A son of the first president Konstantin Gamsakhurdia filed the same claim before.

Just a few days ago Konstantin Gamsakhurdia, leader of an opposition party "Svoboda", had quite an optimistic mood. He returned to the Parliament and headed the temporary committee for the investigation of the death of his father, first president of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia. At least he told the journalists of the coming plans.

In his words, the activity of the committee would be performed in three stages. First it would demand all official documents, as well as audio and video materials related to the first president. At the second stage, after receiving the documents, a list of those who can provide information would be prepared. Then a statement on the reasons of the first Georgian president's death would be made.

However, just a week later (and the committee has had only one meeting since then) Konstantin Gamsakhurdia said that, probably, he would not only refuse working in this committee but will leave the Parliament at all. According to Georgian mass media, this information was provided by one of the leaders of the Svoboda party Sandro Bregadze. In his words, Konstantin will refuse his deputy mandate again if the committee was enabled to conduct a real investigation.

The thing is that the created committee is a temporary one and she has no status of court of inquiry. Thus, it has no possibility to summon and interrogate high-ranking officials. «We want the interrogation of some former high-ranking officials. This case was already used by the ex president Edward Shevardnadze who refused to testify to the committee. For a month we will watch how the situation is developing and then we will raise the issue of transforming the temporary committee into court of inquiry. We will not let anyone use us for an advertising campaign», said Bregadze.

Earlier another representative of the committee, deputy of the ruling party Bejan Khuridze, demanded the modification of its status. He said he would stop his work if the committee was not given the status of court of inquiry. He says that Shota Kviraya and Igor Giorgadze, two former ministers of national security of Georgia at the times of Shevardnadze, must be interrogated.

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