Mikheil Saakashvili met with Father Iona, the priest-monk freed from the captivity of Abkhaz criminals at the Presidential Palace today. Mikheil Saakashvili congratulated Father Iona on his freedom and noted that he has begun good work for the country. According to the President, the Georgian state will fight until the end in order to protect each one of its citizens as well as guarantee their security.

“Of course we were very worried about you. This is not the first case of kidnapping there and this may not be the last one either as long as the rule of criminals and lawlessness keeps going on there with the assistance of our enemy. The most important thing today is that you are here. We did not stop thinking about this even for one minute. On the other hand, the fact that they did not receive a ransom, they got an appropriate result (we cannot talk about the details now) which is important. I think most of their people now understand and will spread the word that in the case of threatening freedom, life, or security of our citizens there will be an appropriate response from our side. We may not be a large and rich country, but our citizens are our main treasure. We will protect our citizens with teeth and we will use every possible means for this. It is a tragedy that lawlessness has taken place there, but on the other hand, it is a huge relief that you escaped it” –Mikheil Saakashvili expressed to the monk.

The Georgian monk thanked the President and the representatives of MIA for freeing him and told the Head of State the details about his adventures while in captivity. As he noted, the only reason for capturing him and the later humiliations was his Georgian nationality.

“God bless you and all of the persons, who personally participated in or managed this operation. I will remember these days for the rest of my life. I will remember the fact that my country and my President stood by me. Such a feeling visits you only when you are in trouble, when people are thinking about you, and helping you. When you are in such a condition, you are in captivity, you are being humiliated, and meanwhile someone comes to save you, this is huge happiness and it cannot be described with words. I still have not recovered from this situation – everything happened this morning.  I felt such happiness when the men from the Department of Constitutional Security met me in the forest and brought me out of there. Mr. President, I would like to say that our country is a real state. This can be seen through your actions. Thank God we have a person like you” – noted the monk while meeting with the President.

The Georgian priest-monk – Iona (Mamuka Maisuradze) had crossed to Abkhazia for the purpose of congratulation, when the local criminals captured him. They had tied up the Georgian monk with a rope for 25 days and they were demanding a ransom of 100 thousand USD. The Georgian side did not hold negotiations on this issue. Father Iona was freed as a result of a special operation administered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.