Georgian President Not Invited to Police Day Event

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili was absent from the Police Day event held on May 31, which was attended by senior representatives of the Georgian authorities, including Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Minister of Internal Affairs Vakhtang Gomelauri, and other ministers, reported Georgia Online.

The news that the president was not invited to the ceremony was confirmed by the Minister of Internal Affairs after the event, stating that the president had not been invited because she granted pardon to a convict who "brutally" burned a police officer.

Gomelauri said, "We decided not to invite the lady president to avoid discomfort with the police." He later mentioned that the president pardoned "the one who killed a police officer." Presumably, he was referring to Lazar Grigoriadis, who was arrested in 2023 and sentenced to nine years in prison for throwing a "Molotov cocktail" at a police officer during a protest against the "foreign agent" law. Later, the president granted pardon to Grigoriadis.

"Do you know what decision the lady president made? I believe that we did not put her in an awkward position and took care of the lady president again," Gomelauri said.

"I have no constitutional obligation to invite the president, nor is there a legal obligation in this regard. I cannot imagine any president of a country granting pardon to someone who killed a police officer... Therefore, to avoid discomfort, including with the police, we decided not to invite the lady president," he added.

According to Gomelauri, all ambassadors were invited to the event, but they were unable to participate for various reasons, and their representatives attended instead.

Meanwhile, on May 31, while President Salome Zurabishvili was walking by Lake Kviria with her grandchild, she was confronted by so-called "titushki." The Pirveli TV channel reported that, according to at least one witness, they had bats and sticks in their hands, shouting and insulting the president.