Media tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, on the photo, declared Saturday his intention to run for presidency in Georgia.
Photo: Valery Melnikov
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The Independence Day for Georgian President
It appears Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili will face a strong competitor at presidential elections. Media tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili declared Saturday his intention to run for presidency. Patarkatsishvili called for lifting the state of emergency, reviving freedom of media and releasing all presidential candidates from political charges. The similar demands have been brought to Saakashvili by the West.
In the environment of blackmail declared by Saakashvili’s regime, said the 52-year-old media baron, I state the intention to go to elections under the slogan: “Georgia Without Saakashvili Is Georgia Without Terror.” Mr Patarkatsishvili called on the states friendly to Georgia and on the international community to force the country’s leadership to meet the requirements necessary for holding democratic elections.
According to the oligarch, those requirements include lifting the state of emergency, stopping crackdown for political reasons, eliminating artificial hurdles for registering presidential candidates, restoring media’s work in part and in whole and ensuring participation of independent observers in the elections.
The refusal of Georgia’s authorities to yield to demands could make all election efforts of Patarkatsishvili abortive. The prosecutors initiated a criminal case against him Friday, blaming on him the conspiracy aimed at the coup. What’s more, the oligarch is said to have citizenship of Israel and Russia in addition to the Georgia’s one. But the main difficulty is the absence of access to media. On November 7, Georgia’s riot police cut off air the Imedi TV broadcaster co-owned by Patarkatsishvili.
Georgian authorities, however, don’t rush to meet the demands and lift the emergency, clearly defying the opposition along with the criticism from Western allies, including the tough message of U.S. Department of State Secretary Condoleezza Rice, and ignoring negotiating efforts of Georgia's Orthodox Patriarch Ilia II.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 12, 2007
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