“We failed to convince our partners that Mikheil Saakashvili (jailed ex-president) was not dying. They have been saying he had several days left and delivered a diplomatic demarch to the Justice Minister,” said Mamuka Mdinaradze, leader of the parliamentary majority.

According to Mdinaradze, Saakashvili’s deteriorated health state was a lie.

“Did twenty-seven ambassadors demarch about Saakashvili dying, saying that was a red line on the EU integration path? This man is alive, isn’t he? Why couldn’t we convince them? It was a lie, but this lie led to the diplomatic demarche. They met the Justice Minister, demanding Saakashvili’s release.

One year and a half passed, and we received EU candidate country status. We failed to persuade them with the same ‘success’ that Georgia deserved the candidate status. However, in several months, they published an Opinion saying Georgia was in first place with all key criteria. Why couldn’t we convince them? What do you think? Because there was some reason behind them not being convinced. We have the same situation today. Today, our partners are not convinced that this is a national, European-style, American-style law. The same law acts in the US, and it is even stricter with tighter regulations,” he said.