Director of the Open Society – Georgia Foundation Keti Khutsishvili, Executive Director of Transparency International Georgia (TI-Georgia) Eka Gigauri and Executive Director at the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) Nino Evgenidze, held a press conference in the European Parliament following the presentation of MEP Rasa Juknevičienė’s report on Georgia at the Foreign Relations Committee meeting.
According to Keti Khutsishvili, Director of the Open Society – Georgia Foundation, the Georgian people are fighting for a European-style democracy.
“After more than 30 years of independence, we are now witnessing in Georgia the Russian-style authoritarian regime to be developing and forming. While the government uses all the Russian means of repression, arrests, violent dispersals, the Georgian people are fighting in the street for more than 200 days, and the Georgian people are ready to fight again for freedom and independence and European-style democracy.
We want to ask Europe once again for support. We appreciate a lot whatever has already been done in the European Parliament and the European Commission. But we want even more, more support to Georgian people and harsher treatment of our authorities, who really deserve sanctions,” she said.
TI-Georgia Executive Director Eka Gigauri urged the EU to impose targeted sanctions on the individuals who have decided to distance Georgia from its European future.
“Thank you for this opportunity, and thank you for the support from the European Parliament. It means a lot to the Georgian people because we think that we are not alone in our fight for democracy and a European future.
Once again, I want to say that our fight is peaceful, determined and courageous. We are very strong in our commitment to democracy and Georgia’s European future. We are ready and very strong in defending fundamental freedoms – the right to speak, to vote, to associate, to live without fear, without repression.
For many months, the Georgian people and civil society have been advocating for the support of Georgia and the Georgian people. We think that it is very important for the European Union and European Parliament to isolate this non-democratic regime in Georgia to support the Georgian people and democracy fighters, independent media, and Georgian civil society.
We also think that it is important to impose targeted sanctions on the individuals who have decided to distance Georgia from its European future. And it is also very important to coordinate the actions and political decisions with the Trans-Atlantic partners,” she said.
As Nino Evgenidze, Executive Director at the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) stated, Georgians and Ukrainians are sacrificing in Europe for the idea of freedom and peace.
“Words cannot express our gratitude to our European friends, who support Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration. We will all remember the names of those people who were standing with the Georgian people in fighting for their freedom and independence. We have been fighting against Russian imperialism for almost 224 years, and we all know when the Russians are coming. Maybe we cannot teach you how the modern state works, but we feel under our skin when the Russians are coming.
We have the Russian proxy government trying to sabotage their own country, to take away our European future. Europe has to stand together because the front line for democracy and freedom goes through Ukraine and Georgia.
We all understand that this is not only a political crisis, this is the fight against imperialism and Putinism. And because of that, Georgians and Ukrainians are sacrificing in Europe for the idea of freedom and peace. We hope and are looking forward to the European Union’s standing strong in its beliefs and values. Otherwise, without unity and solidarity, we will not be able to defeat all kinds of authoritarianism and especially the Russian imperialism in the world,” she said.
