MP Ionatamishvili: Constitutional Court will decide as it sees fit, and international pressure “doesn’t work”

“The Constitutional Court will make whatever decision it considers necessary,” MP Rati Ionatamishvili, chair of Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, told Georgian Public Broadcaster’s First Channel.

Ionatamishvili said the overriding mission is to protect state sovereignty.

“A legal process is under way at the Constitutional Court, guaranteed by the Constitution of Georgia. Any interference in or pressure on the court is therefore unacceptable, alarming and inadmissible, because an independent judiciary is one of the guarantees of state sovereignty. They have repeatedly tried to manipulate the justice system so that they could then use it as a tool against the Georgian state, but they have never succeeded and never will. The Constitutional Court will make whatever decision it considers necessary. The overriding mission is to protect state sovereignty.

So nothing can outweigh that, least of all blackmail and pressure. That is why this process matters for strengthening the country’s democracy and sovereignty. International pressure doesn’t work on issues like this, and everyone knows it. If they can’t draw the conclusions themselves, that is precisely why their ratings in their own countries have fallen close to zero,” Ionatamishvili said.

The Constitutional Court is hearing Georgian Dream’s constitutional lawsuit seeking to declare the United National Movement, the Coalition for Change, Strong Georgia – Lelo, the Federalists and Gakharia for Georgia unconstitutional and ban their activities. The hearing began on 21 October.