Ex-President Saakashvili: Georgians “were not born to be doormats”, and the party ban trial must be met with a “people’s trial”

“Today the so-called Constitutional Court begins a trial supposedly to ban parties, but in reality to formally seal Georgia’s final “humiliation”. This is the most shameful process in Georgia’s 2,000-year history,” former President Mikheil Saakashvili wrote on social media.

He said the so-called trial is taking place in the former residence of Adjara’s separatist, pro-Russian feudal lord.

“The so-called trial is taking place in the former residence of Adjara’s separatist, pro-Russian feudal lord. On 6 May 2004, the proud people of Adjara and I drove him out of that residence, laying the foundation for Batumi and Adjara’s return to Georgian jurisdiction. Unprecedented development and prosperity followed.

Today, in this Batumi that we made flourish, they are putting the Rose Revolution on trial, the revolution that brought Adjara back into Georgia’s constitutional space. Had it not been for the two St George’s Days, 23 November 2003 and 6 May 2004, the revolutions in the rest of Georgia and in Adjara, Adjara today would be in the same state as Abkhazia and Tskhinvali, ruined and under the Russian jackboot. And so Russia, through the mouth of the man from Chorvila, is telling us that we are being punished for wrecking its insidious plan to seize Adjara.

The Russians are putting us on trial because in 2006 we did not break, despite Russian sanctions, and made Georgia completely economically independent of Russia, an achievement that the back-alley dictator from Chorvila has already destroyed, dragging us back into a ruinous dependence on Russia.

I moved the Constitutional Court into Aslan’s former residence to underline the symbolism of Adjara’s return to the constitutional fold. And now, instead of being an instrument for strengthening Georgia, the court has been possessed by the spirit of Aslan Abashidze and intends to ‘legally’ rewrite Georgia’s history and genetic code.

Through their mouths, Ivanishvili will tell us that Georgia’s freedom and rapid development are unacceptable; that European integration is utterly unacceptable (even though the Constitutional Court stands on Batumi’s Europe Square); and that Georgians fighting back against invaders is unacceptable, because Georgians were born to be doormats.

So we must answer this so-called trial with a people’s trial. We must declare loudly, for the whole world to hear, and prove through our actions, that Georgians were not born to be doormats or slaves; that we are proud of our past heroism and struggles; that we will let no one rewrite our glorious history; and that no one will make us give up the fight for freedom, no one will trample us or enslave us.

We are a dignified and proud nation, born for victory, born for freedom and success, not to become the private property of one family and a foreign country. Glory to our heroes! Glory to our struggle! Glory to a free and unconquered Georgia!” Saakashvili wrote.