WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2021) The United States hails the recent agreement signed in Georgia on overcoming the political crisis in the country, US State Department Spokesperson Ned price said.
"We welcome the agreement reached in Georgia on April 19. This sign of good faith is important progress for Georgia's democratic development. Implementation will be equally important. We remain committed to helping Georgia ensure this agreement achieves its aspirations," Price said on Twitter on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, at the presidential residence in Tbilisi, representatives of the Georgian authorities and the opposition publicly signed an agreement, which was proposed by European Council President Charles Michel.
Michel proposed to the Georgian authorities and opposition a new five-point document to overcome the political crisis, including the initiation of an amnesty law to release all participants in the summer protests of June 19-21, 2019, and citizens detained for political reasons; electoral reform; judicial reform; distribution of parliamentary posts according to the new rules and the possibility of calling early parliamentary elections in 2022 if the Georgian Dream party gains less than 43 percent of the votes in the local elections to be held in October 2021.
A political crisis arose in Georgia after almost all opposition parties rejected parliamentary mandates, calling the elections rigged. With mass protest action, they demanded the release of political prisoners and the appointment of early parliamentary elections. The opposition considers Nika Melia, the chairman of the opposition United National Movement party, and Giorgi Rurua, co-owner of opposition broadcaster Mtavari Arkhi, as political prisoners.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said on Monday that she was ready to pardon Rurua a week after the opposition and the authorities sign the agreement. Melia, presumably, will be released under an amnesty, which the parliament must pass, according to the adopted document.
