Last night, the Georgian delegation, which was headed by me, left for Yerevan in order to participate in the Eastern Partnership Summit of Heads of States. Our delegation and I joined the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European People’s Party Wilfried Martens, the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, the President of Moldova – Vlad Filat as well as other members of the European Parliament and national parliaments.

The former Prime Minister,Vano Merabishvili, was a member of the Georgian delegation in his capacity as the General Secretary of the United National Movement Party. He participated in every meeting including the long bilateral meeting with the President of the European Commission. This was followed by a story created with sick fantasy, which the society very well knows.

Clearly, the thought that Vano Merabishvili would use a fake passport in order participate in such an official visit seems so absurd to me that it is hard for me to even make a comment about this. Only the most imprudent persons could come up with the idea that Vano Merabishvili, whom the entire country of Georgia knows, would try to cross the border with a passport issued in someone else’s name in order to attend an open meeting in front of every television camera in Europe.

I firmly support the principle of democratic governance that has been adopted in Georgia, and I express my outrage regarding the fact of administered political persecution. Additionally, I express hope that the responsible authorities will cease this absurd investigation related to Vano Merabishvili.

The Georgian society deserves more. Our society deserves discussion on how we can take care of our country’s development instead of fabricating stories, which are aimed at diverting attention to cheap, short term political point-scoring.