BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 13. Members of the European Parliament have called for the Council of Europe and the EU member states to impose personal sanctions on the officials and political leaders in Georgia, Trend reports.
"MEPs want the Council and EU member states to impose personal sanctions on the officials and political leaders in Georgia responsible for democratic backsliding, electoral fraud, human rights violations, and the persecution of political opponents and activists.
This includes, among others, the prominent oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, as well as judges passing politically motivated sentences and media representatives spreading disinformation," the statement reads.
They further called for holding new parliamentary elections which, according to MEPs, should take place within the next few months, be conducted in an improved electoral environment and overseen by an independent and impartial election administration and monitored by international observers.