MP Gorduladze: Claim of ‘peaceful overthrow’ amounts to unambiguous admission of support for violence

“Statements alleging that political parties are being banned for forming coalitions are entirely false; the state is petitioning to outlaw unconstitutional entities that operate under a unified strategy to undermine the nation’s constitutional order, declared Archil Gorduladze, Chairman of the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee, during a press briefing in Batumi.

Gorduladze argued that Nika Gvaramia and his party continue to justify systemic crimes committed before 2012, while resorting to demagogy and misrepresentation before the Constitutional Court.

“Nika Gvaramia’s statement today was built upon a report prepared under the Moscow Mechanism, which he used to justify the actions of his unconstitutional party. We state unequivocally that this document contains major factual errors, selective interpretations, and politically biased conclusions that make it entirely unobjective. Rather than incorporating essential clarifications from Georgia’s state authorities, the report relies on false information supplied by local NGOs acting as direct extensions of the United National Movement (UNM). The bias is so glaring that the so-called experts could not even identify the country’s official name correctly, repeatedly referring to ‘Republic of Georgia’ instead of ‘Georgia’,” Gorduladze said.

Gorduladze further accused Gvaramia of attempting to intimidate the judiciary by warning that approving the government’s petition would violate Article 78 of the Constitution and invite international sanctions against the judges themselves.

“It was utterly astonishing to hear Nika Gvaramia and his party claim today that a ‘peaceful overthrow’ is justified under the guise of protecting interests outlined in Article 78. The public could not have heard a more direct admission that Gvaramia and his party endorse violence. It is appalling that they attempt to package this violence as a defence of Georgia’s European integration, peddling force as a European value. This rhetoric is even more damning given that the organisers and participants of the 4 October unrest have themselves admitted to committing violent acts,” Gorduladze stated.

Gorduladze also addressed historical legal battles, contrasting the former administration’s record with that of the current government. He argued that improper litigation by the previous administration before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2008 severely undermined Georgia’s legal case against Russia. In contrast, he highlighted that the current administration secured historic victories against the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), upholding the honour of Georgian servicemen and establishing Russian occupation under international law.

Addressing the government’s petition before the Constitutional Court, Gorduladze reiterated that the move fully aligns with the doctrine of “defensible democracy” established by European institutions and the ECHR.

“It is a falsehood to claim that banning unconstitutional parties equates to establishing a dictatorship. If one follows that logic, then dictatorships would exist across Council of Europe member states that have banned anti-democratic parties, including Germany, Spain, Ukraine, and Moldova. Our petition targets entities that actively trample upon the Constitution, seek the violent overthrow of the state, and jeopardise national independence. We are acting strictly within the framework of the law to safeguard Georgia’s democratic order,” Gorduladze concluded.