Gia Volski: Gilauri more or less looks like a professional, is being cast as leader of ‘destructive movement’

First Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Gia Volski says former Prime Minister Nika Gilauri is being presented as the leader of what he described as a “destructive movement,” but argued that this effort is unlikely to succeed.

“Nika Gilauri is a person who more or less appears to be a professional, and now they want to portray him as the leader of this destructive movement. The former president failed to justify himself through his actions, his manner of speaking or his vision. Of course, no one likes traitors. For some time, Saakashvili did not spare Nika Gilauri either.

It is difficult to say how useful Nika Gilauri will be to the opposition, but the fact is that his resources are significantly limited by the agenda of destabilizing the country. Destabilization, revolution, forcible change of government and so-called peaceful overthrow — apart from these topics, we have heard nothing from them. They want to place Gilauri in this context, but they will have little success. They are preaching a fiery future for Georgia, and Nika Gilauri is now being included in that lineup. That lineup will poison anyone, whether it is Nika Gilauri or someone else,” Volski stated.

Jailed Droa Leader and one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, Elene Khoshtaria, wrote in her Facebook post that “Nika Gilauri (former prime minister) has never given any instructions or tasks. At no stage of the cooperation was Gilauri’s candidacy for prime minister a prerequisite. His principal, correct and our shared position was a common candidate for PM, including Salome Zourabichvili as a possible candidate.”

In a written interview with TV Pirveli, ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili called Nika Gilauri’s joining political processes a “grave mistake.” He noted that the “Gilauri brothers are classic representatives of a criminal banking syndicate, and the time will soon come when the banking bosses will face criminal responsibility along with the dictatorship.”