Saakashvili slams Georgian-Armenian activist’s release

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has condemned the release of Vahagn Chakhalyan, the Javakhk-based Armenian activist, who was granted a pardon in January after serving over three years in prison.

Speaking to the local TV channel Imedi, the Georgian leader said he has fears that the activist will hamper the implementation of Georgian policies in the Armenian-populated region.

Chakhalyan was sentenced to 10 years in prison over charges of mass events violating public order, hooliganism and weapon possession.

“Chakhalyan shouldn’t have been released. If he were to leave prison in six years, Javakhk would turn into a key railway knot in Europe,” he said, adding that the period would be enough for constructing a nuclear plant in the region and raising the living standards.

“Was it impossible to keep him in prison for six years to enable the Georgian statehood to bring all that to life? What’s unclear about that? We explain that to them [Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili-led cabinet] in a quite peaceful way,” Saakashvili said.

The Georgian leader also rejected the Javakhkh-Armenian parliament members’ proposal for ratifying the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and declaring Armenian a regional language.

He said he considers Georgian a key language in the country, adding that he had earlier rejected Norway Center for Human Right’s director’s demands for ratifying the document.

Georgia signed the Charter in 1999, but the document remains ungratified to date.