PM Irakli Garibashvili said on Monday there is “nothing alarming” in a statement of the U.S. Department of State in which it said on September 12 that it is “concerned by the continued investigations and criminal charges against opposition figures and the risks that politicized prosecutions would pose for Georgia’s democracy.”

“There is nothing alarming in that statement of the Department of State. We are maximally transparent and please do not speculate on this issue,” PM Garibashvili told journalists when asked by Tbilisi-based Tabula TV reporter about the State Department’s statement. 

“You [referring to Tabula TV’s journalist] now worry because this issue has not gained importance. You have been instructed by Bokeria and Chergoleishvili [to ask about it], but it changes nothing,” the PM said while visiting Technical University in Tbilisi, referring to Tamar Chergoleishvili, editor-in-chief of Tabula media outlet and her husband Giga Bokeria, foreign secretary of opposition UNM party and former secretary of National Security Council.

Garibashvili declined to comment on the State Department’s statement when first asked about it on September 13 and said: “We have already made statements over this [issue] and I do not think that I should clarify it once again.”