“The Georgian Dream party, which has kept good partnership and cooperation with Germany lately, is fully responsible for deteriorated relations with this country,” said Ana Buchukuri, a member of the Gakharia for Georgia party.

Buchukuri echoed the statement of the German Foreign Office, which introduced additional entry bans on officials responsible for the crackdown on public protests in Tbilisi.

According to Ana Buchukuri, historically, Germany has been a close and significant partner of Georgia since the restoration of independence. This partnership brought many benefits to the country and the Georgian people. She said the GD leaders, who received education in Germany learnt “theory but not values” and this is “a regrettable reality.”

Ana Buchukuri believes that sanctions should be personal and Georgian citizens should not be punished for the crimes, committed by “concrete individuals.”

“We are an exceptional party, which has always been against restrictions and we worked hard for Georgia and its people not to have visa liberalization, the biggest benefit, abolished. I cannot predict what the future holds, but this is how the process unfolds and how the government is currently behaving.

We have always been against the abolishment of visa liberalization for the country and Georgian people since we believe that Georgian people should not pay for crimes committed by concrete individuals. Personal bans should be introduced, our party has always been careful with sanctions since they always mean and carry risks.

However, when we speak about the suspension of visa liberalization and the choice between bad and worse, we choose what is less harmful. Therefore, instead of innocent citizens being deprived of the benefit of visa-free travel, certain individuals should bear the responsibility. We and Giorgi Gakharia have always stated that personal responsibility would follow,” she said.