The parliamentary majority and a group of students have slammed political analyst Paata Zakareishvili, who is a member of the opposition Republican party, for making “harmful and irresponsible” statements.

Zakareishvili said on Rustavi 2 television on April 22 that the Zugdidi section of the Interior Ministry’s Department for Constitutional Security (DCS) was behind the Georgian students who have become very active on Abkhaz issues recently.

“I hope that the Republic party will respond to his statement and condemn it. These students have nothing to do with special services. These young people are motivated and they are fighting for the unification of their country,” Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said at a session of the parliamentary bureau on April 23.

“The Republican party has not condemned Paata Zakareishvili. On the contrary, we think that our member expressed a correct opinion and we regret that the Parliamentary Chairperson failed to draw correct conclusions from the TV program,” Levan Berdzenishvili of the Republican party said at a news briefing on the same day.

He also noted that the Republican party would cope with any criticism levelled againist it, so long as the students, who were arrested by Abkhaz militiamen on March 1 on accusations of “illegal crossing of the state border”, were released. “This is the main priority today.”

“However, as soon as the students are released we reserve the right to investigate and clarify how they ended up on the territory controlled by the Abkhaz side,” Berdzenishvili said.