Georgian PM warns President could end up 'behind bars'

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has twice hinted that President Salome Zurabishvili could end up "behind bars" if she does not leave power when her term expires.

Georgian Dream's disputed victory in the country's October 26 parliamentary election, widely seen as a referendum on Georgia's aspirations to join the European Union, has sparked mass demonstrations and the opposition boycott of the parliament.

"Salome Zurabishvili will have to leave office on December 29. Let us see where she continues to live beyond the bars or behind the bars. I think she would have enough sense not to violate the criminal code," Kobakhidze said.

"Let me repeat that nobody may want to send a 72-year-old woman to prison, but in deciding to act this way, she is sacrificing all those people who may be with her inside the presidential residence. I repeat, I hope that she would have a sense of not violating the criminal code and not letting others do so and risk multi-year prison terms."

President Zurabishvili maintains that she remains president until parliament is legitimately constituted through free and fair elections, as she considers the election of Mikheil Kavelashvili by the one-party electoral college and his scheduled inauguration on December 29 illegitimate.

Zurabishvili met with Georgian opposition leaders on Saturday and reiterated her call for new elections amid a month of anti-government protests.

The Georgian prime minister insisted that "there are no legal grounds for scheduling repeat elections," stressing that the Central Election Commission validated the election results and the Constitutional Court ruled on the president's appeal.

According to Kobakhidze, snap elections can only be called if the government loses the vote of confidence, which has not happened, and he added that the president's insistence on calling them could violate the criminal code.

The Georgian opposition last week called on the European Union to impose sanctions and declare "illegitimate" the government of the Caucasian country, which has been led since 2012 by the Georgian Dream party.

It is considered by the opposition to be close to Russia, which in November froze negotiations to join the EU.

with AP