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Zaza Okuashvili is a real hero – Mikheil Saakashvili

Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili says Zaza Okuashvili is a hero, because he dared express protest against the government’s pressure on business. Saakashvili was interviewed by Free Space Program broadcast on Iberia regarding the developments around Iberia TV Company and Omega Group.

“I think that Zaza Okuashvili is a real hero. What is heroism in general? We are dealing with an organized crime gang, which is talking with the language of criminal world. You heard what Vano Chkhartishvili said, this dealer and impudent figure of all times, he said: what happened? I was at that meeting and it is so mean to come to the meeting with a sound recorder. It means he argued in a criminal manner. These are the people who can do anything. Zaza Okuashvili, by expressing his protest, is not struggling only for himself, but for all those unnamed businessman, who are blackmailed and terrorized every day, who were forced to contribute to that “fund”, who were deprived of their businesses or involved in that pyramid of Ivanishvili on a low level and they are silent, because they thing “Bidzo is cool, Bidzo will settle it, Bidzo will destroy all of them. There is a whole administration – some Lasha Natsvlishvili, Partskhaladze, someone called “security” and etc. and they are scared to be suppressed. In these terms, all keep silence and he is the only man who objected to all this. Therefore, for me this equals to a civil heroism and we should care about such persons in a normal community. But what is going on in Georgia? In Georgia, a business has also expressed protest from Zugdidi and the mayor of Zugdidi, who actually admitted to taking bribe, did not reject it and in fact, confessed bribery in the records, resigned. First he was scared and fled the country, but afterwards, he was told to come back, not to be afraid, he was scolded for hasty resignation and he was told everything would be OK. He returned in a confident pose and said he would continue to be the leader of Zugdidi branch of Georgian Dream and today they arrested the businessman, the person who disclosed this crime. This man was arrested and punished and it was a signal of mafia that they will do anything and they will not step back. In these circumstances, Okuashvili’s behavior was cool,” Saakashvili said.