Giorgi Gakharia confirms German Ambassador was in parliament during June 20 storming

Giorgi Gakharia, leader of the Gakharia for Georgia party and former Interior Minister, has confirmed that the German ambassador was present inside Georgia’s Parliament building during the June 20, 2019 storming of Parliament, but Gakharia says he was not involved in any key decision-making.

Speaking remotely during a session of the current parliamentary temporary investigative commission, Gakharia mentioned that he gave crucial instructions or received information from a separate room where he was alone.

“The German ambassador was in the building, but not with me. He arrived after the storming had already begun. The International Relations Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had been instructed to notify all ambassadors in Georgia that the opposition had begun physically storming the Parliament. This message was sent to all international partners so they could independently verify the situation. It was the right and justified move.

The German ambassador received this notification—along with others—and came to the building. I don’t know who allowed him inside. He did not meet with me, but I can confirm he was there, as were many others.
I didn’t manage anything from the main room. Yes, I was there occasionally, but when important decisions had to be made, I would step into a back room. The front room had a lot of people—deputies, staff, others—coming and going, so it wasn’t possible to issue sensitive instructions or receive information there. For key decisions, I was alone,” he said.

In response to a question from a member of the parliamentary investigative commission—“If the ambassador and deputies were present during the storming, why didn’t you evacuate them? Wasn’t it your responsibility?”—Gakharia replied that the State Security Service at the time gave no such advice.

“Maybe it was more dangerous outside. But unfortunately, the then-leadership of the State Security Service didn’t advise me to evacuate anyone. If they had understood that the ambassador was under state protection, then instead of showing up on the front lines and appearing on camera, the head of the State Security Service should’ve focused on protecting the ambassador and others.”

When asked, “Was Public Defender Nino Lomjaria in the same area as you?” Gakharia replied: “I don’t remember. She was in the building—I saw her. But you should also know that people who had no business being there, you allowed them in. For example, many ‘Natsi’—not MPs—were present. How did they get in?”