Parliament Speaker: Footballer Giorgi Gvelesiani voiced what we all witnessed; the opposition behaves like a pseudo-religious cult, harassing all who dissent

“Giorgi Gvelesiani has simply spoken out about a reality we all witnessed: the intense pressure exerted on public figures, including athletes and cultural icons, to express sympathy for forces hostile to Georgia,” Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili told journalists.

Papuashvili commented on a recent interview by former Georgian national football team player Giorgi Gvelesiani, which triggered a wave of hostile reactions online.

In his interview, Gvelesiani remarked: “In 2024, Georgia faced an existential threat; the choice was between Georgian Dream and a collective group of traitors to the country. Footballers were pressured by various forces to publish supportive posts. Most wrote, ‘Our path lies in Europe’—to which I posed a question: do we actually know what this means for our economy? Why is joining any union treated as a panacea? Following those comments, those same forces launched an attack against me.”

Evaluating Gvelesiani’s account, Papuashvili stressed that his observations were far from novel and were firmly backed by established facts.

“Was there anything new in what he said? Did we not all witness the aggressive raids on Facebook and other social media pages at the time, compelling people to fall in line and say specific things? This man simply pointed out that coercion took place.

And how did the very forces behind that pressure respond when attempting to refute his claim? They responded with further pressure. We saw a redoubled assault on Gvelesiani: obscenity, verbal abuse, and a coordinated harassment campaign involving the exact same actors. The United National Movement and that emotionally damaged crowd displayed their usual behaviour, both online and in real life. Thus, in their very attempt to deny that pressure existed, they proved his point by applying even more pressure. That is the sheer absurdity of it.

Once again, they demonstrated their vile nature, their readiness to attack anyone simply for holding a different view. They treat their own people the exact same way the moment someone takes a single step out of line. There is a clear explanation for this. They occasionally refer to themselves as a ‘bubble’, but that term is merely used to gloss over the true nature of their group, which in reality functions as a pseudo-religious cult,” Papuashvili declared.

The Parliamentary Speaker further argued that the opposition operates with its own daily rituals on Rustaveli Avenue.

“If you observe their behaviour, they match a pseudo-religious fundamentalist cult in every respect. They have their own rituals and gather daily on Rustaveli Avenue to perform them. They have their high priest preaching from his television channel, their ritualistic chants, and their shrines, worshipping the European Union flag as an object of prayer.

They behave precisely like fundamentalists. The moment someone strays from their sect, they stone them like heretics; the instant someone rejects their dogmas, they hurl stones. This pseudo-religious cult has become a refuge for individuals who continuously instil division, malice, and hostility, all the classic hallmarks of fundamentalist groups.

That is why they consistently avoid substantive debate. You will recall when we proposed open discussions during the passage of the Transparency Law; their leadership instructed everyone to boycott debates. Why? Because they are fundamentalists bound by rigid dogmas. The moment they realise an argument could shatter their dogma, they forbid their members from engaging in debate, knowing full well that their pseudo-religious constructs would collapse like a house of cards,” Papuashvili concluded.