A lawmaker from UNM opposition party, Nugzar Tsiklauri, said he was attacked by at least seven men last night outside his home in Tbilisi.

Tsiklauri, who had bruises visible at nose and eye, told journalists that he was attacked at about 3am on Monday by seven or eight masked men.

He said that assailants tried to drag him into one of the three cars they had arrived, but failed and left the scene after a fistfight, which lasted for one or two minutes; Tsiklauri also said that attackers had electroshock devices.

UNM said in a written statement that the authorities, in particular as the opposition party put it, “de jure Prime Minister Garibashvili” and “de factor ruler Bidzina Ivanishvili”, bear full responsibility for this attack.

It said that failure to promptly identify and punish assailants and those who have ordered the attack “will prove Garibashvili-Ivanishvili” culpability.

“The goal of Garibashvili-Ivanishvili to break down the United National Movement and to replace it with openly pro-Russian opposition is unachievable. We will continue an uncompromising struggle based on the interests of Georgia and its people,” UNM said in the statement.

PM Irakli Garibashvili condemned the attack as “outrageous” and said: “I have already called on relevant agency to timely investigate this case.”

Deputy Interior Minister, Levan Izoria, said that the investigation has been launched and added: “We will inform the public as soon as we have concrete results.”

Parliament speaker, Davit Usupashvili, condemned the attack and said: “I am sure the law enforcement agencies will be able to solve the case in the shortest period of time… Such cases should in no way be left uninvestigated.”

MP Davit Bakradze, leader of the UNM parliamentary minority group, said the authorities should not try to portray the attack as a personal conflict between MP Tsiklauri and attackers, who, he said, were “well-trained masked men, armed with electroshock” devices. He also said that any delay in investigation will only fuel suspicions that the group of attackers has links with security services.