Deputy Ministers of Internal Affairs Vladimer Bortsvadze and Nino Tsatsiashvili held meeting with Public Defender, Nino Lomjaria. The meeting was held under the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and was also attended by the Deputy Ombudsman. At the meeting, the parties discussed the pre-election period and reviewed incidents that have recently occurred. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Public Defender’s Office expressed readiness for active cooperation in order to share the information and immediately respond to the possible violations during the election period.
"The purpose of the meeting is to timely provide information on incidents during the pre-election period, so that we can make as quick response as possible. Public Defender has also expressed readiness in this regard on which we have reiterated our readiness for cooperation as well. We plan to share information proactively with regard to these facts in the future. In addition to the mentioned, we have asked additional questions regarding statements made by the Ombudsman and we are waiting for the clarification in the future, "- stated Nino Tsatsiashvili.
"I think it was a very important meeting considering that we agreed to have constant communication on the alleged violations during the pre-election period, including incidents in connection with the elections as well. As I have mentioned before, Public Defender’s office was provided with information according to which representatives of certain political parties were blackmailed with materials of personal life. We have agreed that the Central Criminal Police Department is ready to launch an investigation into such cases, regardless of where the incident takes place, obviously, confidentiality will be fully reserved. Thus, we will provide the potential victims with the results achieved through this interaction and let them know that the Ministry is ready to launch investigation on the central level on the basis of a respective report depicting such facts. We discussed cases that became known to the Public Defender and reviewed issues within the frames of our mandate, We have agreed on mechanisms allowing us to make joint respond to such violations and reports”- stated Public Defender.
