MP Sharmanashvili: We will only accept substantiated claims from CoE

We will only accept well-founded criticism from the Council of Europe. Their priority appears to be building misleading resolutions on falsehoods, and it is difficult to engage in dialogue with people who act in this way, which is why we are no longer cooperating with them, Georgian Dream parliamentary majority member Tengiz Sharmanashvili told the GPB First Channel.

Sharmanashvili commented on the resolution concerning Georgia adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

“When they talk about political prisoners, including Mikheil Saakashvili and others, it should be remembered that Saakashvili challenged several aspects of his case before the European Court of Human Rights and lost each of them. Are these parliamentarians suggesting that those rulings were also based on falsehoods? On the contrary, it is they who are basing their conclusions on false premises.

We have not paid much attention to their resolutions for a long time. When even decisions of the European Court are treated as secondary and the priority is to build politically motivated resolutions on inaccurate claims, it becomes difficult to have a meaningful conversation. That is why we are no longer cooperating with the Council of Europe.

We will not accept demands; we will only accept substantiated criticism. When we tell them that we are ready to discuss every issue on the basis of facts rather than perceptions, they avoid such discussions. Instead, they want to send directives from Brussels and Strasbourg and expect us to implement them without question.

That will no longer happen in Georgia. Georgia is a sovereign state, and they should speak to us with respect and dignity,” Sharmanashvili said.