Lelo’s Grigol Gegelia: We urge the international community to take decisive measures to prevent the burial of pro-European parties in an EU candidate state

“We urge the international community to act and take decisive measures to prevent the burial of democracy, pluralism, and pro-European political parties in an EU candidate state,” stated Grigol Gegelia, a member of Strong Georgia – Lelo.

According to Gegelia, banning a political party means voiding not only the party itself, but also the political will expressed by its electorate.

“I wish to inform the public that Strong Georgia – Lelo is working intensively to defend the interests and voting rights of each one of you in the wake of the constitutional lawsuit, the satisfaction of which would inflict immense damage on all citizens of Georgia. To this end, Strong Georgia – Lelo is today issuing official diplomatic communications to the political institutions of the European Union, the United States, and the entire international community, calling on them to immediately explore all avenues and means to support Georgian democracy in this hour of grave peril, when the Ivanishvili regime has set about liquidating the Georgian state on an expedited timeline.

We urge the international community to act to prevent the burial of democracy, pluralism, and pro-European political parties in an EU candidate nation. We urge the international community to deploy every measure and step established under international law, international practice, and precedent to ratchet up pressure on this externally imposed, anti-Georgian regime and to safeguard the interests of the peace- and freedom-loving Georgian people.

The process unfolding today is an attack by a Russian regime against the entire Georgian nation, for political parties mirror the will expressed by this nation, the Georgian people, the choice of hundreds of thousands and, in total, over a million Georgians. Consequently, banning a political party signifies not merely the dissolution of a party, but the nullification, denial, and, at the very least, the unconstitutional outlawing of the political will expressed by half the nation.

Recent statements attest that the European Union stands firmly behind the Georgian people and their European future. We are confident that at this decisive moment in our country’s historic struggle, they will translate these words of support into tangible, effective assistance, for Georgia today finds itself under hybrid attack, and effective international backing has never been more vital or critical than it is today,” Gegelia noted.

Furthermore, Gegelia urged “all members and supporters of Georgian Dream to fully grasp the weight of responsibility and the crime they are committing against the Georgian nation and state.”

“At the same time, I urge every member and supporter of Georgian Dream, every tier of this system, to realise the profound responsibility and crime they are currently committing against the Georgian nation and state. Every individual signing off on the formalisation of dictatorship today must clearly understand that no participant in this process, so extraordinarily damaging to the country, will escape either political or legal accountability, the heavy accountability imposed by complicity in this monumental crime.

The struggle for a free, democratic Georgia is this nation’s historic struggle, one in which it has never been defeated, nor will it be defeated now,” Grigol Gegelia declared.