20 January 2012, 21:00
United Trade Unions of Georgia: it was not the authorities of the country who paid the ransom for release of the sailors
Money was paid for release of 15 Georgian and three Turkish sailors from the Somali pirates' prison but it was not done by the government of Georgia, Chairman of United Trade Unions of the country Irakly Petriashvili said.
According to Petriashvili, though it was not the Georgian authorities who paid the ransom for the sailors' release they played a great role in this operation. "The money has been paid but not by the Government of Georgia. I cannot yet tell who paid the ransom for I have no right to disclose confidential information. We will tell everything after February, 15, when the lawsuit to the international court is ready against the ship-owner company which did not pay the wages to the sailors for 10 or 11 month", IA "Trend" quotes Petriashvili.
It should be mentioned that the authorities of Georgia do not disclose under which conditions the sailors were released but Somali sources state that Georgia paid the pirates three million dollars for release of the sailors.
Meanwhile, yet in November, 2011, Trade Unions of Georgia started fund raising to buy out the Georgian sailors. According to IA "Novosti-Georgia" a special Solidarity Foundation was created for fund raising and United Trade Unions of Georgia appealed to trade unions of other countries for support.
