MP Archil Gorduladze: UNM still justifies systemic crimes, so it must be banned

“Ana Tsitlidze’s claim in the Constitutional Court that the ruling party accuses the former government of systemic crimes based on witness testimony to the investigative commission is a lie,” said MP Archil Gorduladze, chair of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee.

“In fact, we are proving that the United National Movement committed systemic crimes based on judgments by the European Court of Human Rights. Take, for example, the judgment in the Ochigava case, in which the European Court stated that the torture of people before 2012 was systemic and systematic,” Gorduladze told a briefing today.

Archil Gorduladze also hit back at United National Movement member Levan Bezhashvili, dismissing claims that the lawsuit is based on a hastily passed new law as entirely false. He maintained that the lawsuit relies entirely on long-standing provisions of Georgian law and introduces no new regulation.

Gorduladze also said that the claim that the law on confiscating a banned party’s property was passed in 2024 is false. According to him, the provision transferring a banned party’s property to the State Treasury has been in force since 1997.

“It is a lie that, shortly before the lawsuit was filed, in 2024, Parliament passed a law providing for the confiscation of a banned party’s property. In fact, the provision transferring a banned party’s property to the State Treasury has been in force since 1997,” Gorduladze said.

He added: “It is a lie that this lawsuit blames Georgia for starting the war, or that if it is upheld, Georgia will be blamed for starting the war and we will be going against the Strasbourg court’s ruling and the findings of the investigation in The Hague.”

He said the ruling party is asking a question: by supporting the Council of Europe resolution, did the National Movement admit to a crime committed against Georgian territory, or did it commit no crime and instead blame the Georgian army for war crimes?

“In fact, with our constitutional lawsuit we are asking: by supporting Resolution 1633, did the United National Movement admit to a crime committed against Georgian territory, or did it commit no crime and blame the Georgian army for war crimes? Either way, it is treason. The United National Movement is claiming credit for our team’s success in defending Georgia’s national interests in Strasbourg and The Hague. The only thing the United National Movement did here was to present no evidence whatsoever when it filed the case at the UN International Court of Justice, which is why Georgia lost its case against Russia. Incidentally, the Justice Minister when the case was filed was Nika Gvaramia,” Gorduladze said.

Gorduladze also discussed the Ochigava and Girgvliani cases. He said the UNM’s claim that Strasbourg found no systemic violation of any right in these cases is false.

“It is a lie that Strasbourg found no systemic violation of any right in the Ochigava and Girgvliani cases. In fact, in the Ochigava case the European Court found precisely systemic and systematic torture. In paragraph 276 of its judgment in the Girgvliani case, the Court states that it is dismayed that every branch of government, including the President, acted to prevent justice from being done in that horrific murder case,” Gorduladze said.

Gorduladze said the UNM members’ statements during the hearing increasingly strengthen the lawsuit.

He referred to Mikheil Saakashvili’s remarks about Roin Shavadze and to Ana Tsitlidze’s remarks about the Aprasidze case.

According to Gorduladze, the United National Movement still justifies systemic and systematic crimes.

“During these days of the hearing, both inside the courtroom and outside, the statements made by the collective National Movement further strengthen our lawsuit. For example, yesterday the leader of the UNM, Mikheil Saakashvili, accused Roin Shavadze of espionage, which is not borne out even by the investigation conducted under the UNM, and said it would have been good if he had been put on trial, when the Strasbourg court has established that Roin Shavadze was killed. Today, Ana Tsitlidze was justifying the helicopter attack on the Aprasidze family and opening fire on sleeping minors. Leaving everything else aside, these statements also confirm that the United National Movement not only fails to distance itself from systemic and systematic crimes but still justifies them today. That is why a force that overthrew the constitutional order, and whose aim is to do the same in the future, must be brought to justice and banned,” Gorduladze said.