TBILISI: Georgia jailed two prominent opposition figures on Friday, the latest in a string of sentences that critics condemn as a crackdown on dissent that puts nearly all opposition leaders behind bars.
Georgia has faced political unrest since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in October’s parliamentary elections.
The opposition rejected the results, triggering mass protests that escalated after the government suspended negotiations on joining the European Union.
Protesters accuse the ruling party of drifting toward authoritarianism and aligning the country with Moscow — allegations the government denies.
Opposition figures and rights activists are being targeted in a wave of arrests and prosecutions.
On Friday, a Tbilisi court ordered Nika Melia — the co-leader of the key opposition Akhali party — to be jailed for eight months.
Another prominent opposition politician, Givi Targamadze, was sentenced to seven months in prison.
The two were also barred from holding public office for two years.
They were convicted of failing to cooperate with a divisive parliamentary enquiry probing alleged abuses under jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
Saakashvili, a pro-Western reformer, is serving a 12.5-year sentence on charges widely condemned by rights groups as politically motivated.
Melia has been in pre-trial detention since late May.
Targamadze, a member of Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM), said he believed his sentence was “a Russian order.”
In 2016, he survived a bomb attack when his car exploded in central Tbilisi just days before parliamentary elections.
Nearly all of Georgia’s opposition leaders have been jailed this month on charges similar to those levelled at Melia and Targamadze.
They have dismissed the parliamentary commission as illegitimate and accused Georgian Dream of using it to silence dissent.
Ahead of last year’s elections, Georgian Dream announced plans to outlaw all major opposition parties.
Georgia tightens screws on opposition, jails more leaders
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Georgia tightens screws on opposition, jails more leaders
- Opposition figures and rights activists are being targeted in a wave of arrests and prosecutions
Indonesia reaffirms Yemen’s territorial integrity, backs stability efforts amid tensions
- Statement comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a UAE weapons shipment at Yemeni port city
- Jakarta last week said it ‘appreciates’ Riyadh ‘working together’ with Yemen to restore stability
JAKARTA: Indonesia has called for respect for Yemen’s territorial integrity and commended efforts to maintain stability in the region, a day after Saudi Arabia bombed a weapons shipment from the UAE at a Yemeni port city that Riyadh said was intended for separatist forces.
Saudi Arabia carried out a “limited airstrike” at Yemen’s port city of Al-Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, following the arrival of an Emirati shipment that came amid heightened tensions linked to advances by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates further efforts by concerned parties to maintain stability and security,” particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahara.
“Indonesia reaffirms the importance of peaceful settlement through an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue under the coordination of the United Nations and respecting Yemen’s legitimate government and territorial integrity,” Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry said.
The latest statement comes after Jakarta said last week that it “appreciates the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as other relevant countries, working together with Yemeni stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.”
Saudi Arabia leads the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE and was established in 2015 to combat the Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen.
Riyadh has been calling on the STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels, to withdraw after it launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops last month, seeking an independent state in the south.
Indonesia has also urged for “all parties to exercise restraint and avoid unilateral action that could impact security conditions,” and has previously said that the rising tensions in Yemen could “further deteriorate the security situation and exacerbate the suffering” of the Yemeni people.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are its main trade and investment partners in the Middle East.
