Lithuanian conservative MP Žygimantas Pavilionis, who chairs the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, is being sent to Georgia to help solve the ongoing political crisis in the country.
The Board of the Lithuanian Seimas, parliament, decided to delegate the politician on Thursday. This will be the first foreign trip by a Lithuanian lawmaker during the pandemic lockdown. The existing rules had to be changed to make an exception for the Foreign Committee chair.
Pavilonis will leave for Tbilisi on Friday. He hopes to act as a mediator between the conflicting sides.
The crisis was triggered by a court ruling to detain an opposition leader charged with “organising mass violence” during 2019 anti-government demonstrations in Tbilisi.
Nika Melia, the chairman of the United National Movement of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, has rejected the case as politically motivated. Georgia's Prime Minister Giorgi Gahkaria, of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Thursday he was resigning because of disagreement in the government over enforcing Melia's detention.
“I have old personal input from the times of President Valdas Adamkus. I led the Georgia group in the past Seimas, I have many friends on both sides and I am going to try to reconcile them,” Pavilionis told BNS on Thursday.
“Our ambassador was the first to go to the United National Movement's headquarters where the whole opposition is centered and which the special forces want to storm into, shielded it with his own body. It has not happened yet but who knows what might happen tonight,” he added.
Pavilionis plans to meet with representatives of both the ruling block and the opposition in Tbilisi. He also hopes to speak with Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili.
“We will sit with one side and the other and look for solutions. If Georgia really plans to join the European Union and NATO, [...] throwing each other into prison will definitely not help them get there. They must learn the Lithuanian lesson that the position and the opposition must work together on strategic goals,” Pavilionis told BNS.
Earlier on Thursday, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing concern over the political situation in Georgia.
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