Active members of the United National Movement are being persecuted throughout the country. The Georgian Dream does not spare any effort to destroy the UNM so that the country can no longer hear the opposition’s opinion. Another victim of the attack became Shota Martinenko, an active member of the UNM in Akhaltsikhe, who was attacked four days ago by the Georgian Dream people. Shota was returning to Akhaltsikhe from Tbilisi with his wife Nino Bagauri that day. He was taking part in the June protests outside the Cabinet of Ministers. Shota organized the mobilization and transportation of Akhaltsikhe youth to participate in the rally in Tbilisi. And on the evening of June 11, when he approached his home, the car of the attackers blocked the road. He was severely beaten in front of his wife, who was also verbally abused, then her hands were tied and she was thrown into a car in order not to be able to help her husband, who lost consciousness. Members of the UNM are being prosecuted in Akhaltsikhe under the leadership of Georgian Dream MP Giorgi Kopadze and his right-hand man Zaza Melikidze (Gamgebeli). It should also be noted that Giorgi Kopadze, who was born in Akhaltsikhe on February 29, 1960, served in the Shevardnadze government from 1991 to 2002. Since the arrival of the UNM to power until 2012 he had been unemployed.
In 2014 he was elected Mayor of Akhaltsikhe. In August 2015 he organized protests and made loud hate speech statements against Muslims. He was instigating hatred against the Muslim ethnicity in the local population. He said liberating Georgia from the ethnic Muslim population was his civic duty. “I will not back down and continue the political struggle against the Georgian Dream party, which has nothing to do with the Georgian’s dreams. Ivanishvili’s authoritarian regime must end in the country. The fight always makes sense and I am confident that our party will win the presidential elections this year. I will do my best to get the majority of votes in Akhaltsikhe for the candidate for the UNM”- Shota told a journalist who met Shota at his home.
Interviewed by journalist Maka Mosiashvil
