Burdzhanadze's husband intends to apply for asylum in European

TBILISI, August 27 (Itar-Tass) --Former chief of the Georgian border
guard police Badri Bitsadze, sentenced by the Tbilisi city court in
absentia to imprisonment, intends to apply for political asylum in a
European country, said his wife Nino Burdzhanadze, ex-parliament speaker
and currently one of the leaders of the opposition public forum People's
Assembly of Georgia.
"We are working on the issue. Badri will apply to one of Europe's
countries with such a request, and I think, the request will be met," she
said in an interview to the Georgian newspaper Rezonansi. Burdzhanadze did
not say in what country her husband was. "I stay in contact with Badri. I
saw him recently and talked with him, but I will not say where the meeting
took place and what we talked about," the ex-speaker said.
Several days ago, Bitsadze was sentenced in absentia to five years and
six months in prison for "organisation of resistance to policemen with the
aim to prevent public order ensuring" during mass demonstrations of the
opposition last May. After the authorities dispersed the demonstrators on
May 26, he immediately left Georgia.
Burdzhanadze refuted all the accusations against her husband and
stated the Tbilisi court's ruling was the Georgian authorities' revenge
against her family.
Bitsadze was chief of the Georgian border guard service from 2004 to
2008.