Georgia’s opposition parties wrote an open letter to the international organizations on the implementation of the March 8 agreement between the Government and opposition on constitutional changes and release of political prisoners.

“As Georgia, alongside the entire world, is battling the unprecedented pandemic, we, the undersigned Georgian opposition parties would like to update you on the implementation of an agreement between the government and the opposition on March 8 reached with the mediation of partner nations’ ambassadors.

As you may remember, release of the political prisoners was an integral part of the agreement.

Unfortunately, on April 13, Irakli Okruashvili, one of these individuals was sentenced to five years in jail. We view this development as the step in the negative direction in breach of the Agreement’s letter and spirit. On April 14, the United States Embassy as well as HE Carl Harzell, EU Ambassador to Georgia, made statements in which they expressed concerns over the sentencing and called for the full implementation of the Agreement.

Conversely, the opposition parties consistently upheld the Agreement. We have voted in favor to set up a Constitutional Commission on election reform and taken part in discussions on election code.

None of these effort will count if the remaining political prisoners – Gigi Ugulava, Giorgi Rurua and Irakli Okruashvili – are not released. As soon as the coronavirus pandemic fades, this would again throw the country back into political turmoil and increase risks in the run up to the October elections. Our goal, however, is for this not to happen.

Emergences should never be used to undermine democracy. As you are focused on your nations’ efforts to battle the pandemic, our most sincere pledge before you would be to remind the Georgian Government of the importance of the full implementation of the March 8 Agreement”, - reads the letter.