David Sakvarelidze

Ukrainian and Georgian politician

David Georgievich Sakvarelidze (Georgian: დავით საყვარელიძე; Ukrainian: Давід Георгійович Сакварелідзе; born 15 September 1981, Tbilisi) is a Ukrainian[citation needed]and former Georgian politician, prosecutor, and attorney.

Biography

Sakvarelidze (far left) meeting with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko

He was Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Georgia from 2008 to 2012. He pursued a zero-tolerance policy for crime.[1] In early June 2011 Sakvarelidze said he has requested the Tbilisi City Court issue an arrest warrant for Badri Bitsadze, who was accused of organizing attacks on policemen during anti-governmental protests in May 2011 and did not pay 100,000 Laris for bail.[2]

Sakvarelidze was an MP in the Parliament of Georgia, representing the opposition United National Movement party, between 2012 and 2015. On 16 February 2015, Sakvarelidze was appointed as Deputy General Prosecutor of Ukraine.[3] Sakvarelidze was also granted Ukrainian citizenship.[4] In office he accused colleagues of taking bribes to protect the freezing of assets of allegedly gained from corruption.[5] In March 2016 he was fired from the General Prosecutor office charged with a “gross violation of the rules of prosecutorial ethics”.[5]

Sakvarelidze is a key ally of Mikheil Saakashvili. Sakvarelidze created a new political party in autumn 2016 that claims Saakashvili as its “ideologist.”[6] At the end of 2016 he joined Saakashvili's Movement of New Forces party.[7][8]

Controversy

On 27 February 2022, during an interview with the BBC, Sakvarelidze faced backlash on social media for his comments in regards to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sakvarelidze stated that the war situation unfolding in Ukraine was "very emotional" for him because "European people with blue eyes and blonde hair" were being killed every day.[9][10]

References

  1. ^ "МЦР". icrua.org. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Georgian Prosecutor General Demands Badri Bitsadze's Arrest - Kanal PIK TV". Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  3. ^ "Georgian MP from UNM Appointed as Ukraine's Deputy Chief Prosecutor". Civil Georgia. 16 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  4. ^ "Georgian-born Sakvarelidze Sacked by Ukraine's Disgraced Prosecutor General". Georgia Today. 31 March 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  5. ^ a b Bullough, Oliver (12 April 2017). "The money machine: how a high-profile corruption investigation fell apart". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
  6. ^ Mikheil Saakashvili Resigns Post in Ukraine, Citing Corruption New York Times
  7. ^ "Саакашвілі провів збори свого "Руху". Вимагав перевиборів". Українська правда. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  8. ^ "Новини - Українська правда". pda.pravda.com.ua. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  9. ^ "Ukrainian official's remark on people with 'blue eyes and blonde hair' being killed sparks racism row". India Today. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  10. ^ Ellisson, Sarah; Andrews, Travis M. (27 February 2022). "'They seem so like us': In depicting Ukraine's plight, some in media use offensive comparisons". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 March 2022.