Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has declared that the opposition passed its own political sentence upon itself when it refused to recognise the will of the Georgian people following the 2024 elections and became a direct instrument in foreign hands, wielded against its own homeland.

According to Papuashvili, there is nothing further to discuss with them. He elaborated that the core issue is that, today, they are engaging in the trafficking of people and undermining democracy.

“Their methods have not changed. Since 2012, their approach has remained consistent: encouraging individuals to commit crimes, leaving them to serve their sentences, and then exploiting those same individuals through trade. That is what happened with Mikheil Saakashvili; they brought him here and left him to rot in prison, when he had been perfectly comfortable in Ukraine. That is what happened in the Melia case, that is what is happening in the Mzia Amaglobeli case, and that is what is happening in every single case where they themselves incited people to break the law, then sacrificed them to prison, including with the help of foreigners, including ambassadors, who urged them: don’t admit the charges, don’t cooperate with justice. That incitement ensured there would be no plea agreement, no lenient sentence, and now they are trading in those very people. This is political trafficking, and it is the business of the radical opposition today, along with certain foreign political groups and organisations.

This is human trafficking. They use this method every single time. You will recall the Ugulava affair and the ongoing debates surrounding whether clemency will be granted, if there will be an early conditional release, what the eventual outcome might be, and how all of this will unfold. First, they lead people into crime, through incitement from without and assistance from within, then they sacrifice them to prison, and then they trade in those people’s fates.

Second: the trafficking in democracy, which has already been going on for fourteen years, since 2012, when every attack on democracy is followed by the involvement and interference of foreigners, asking whether perhaps you might concede something, offer some small concession; the mandate was torn up, but perhaps there is some other way to involve you, and so on. That is what trading in democracy looks like. Neither human trafficking nor the trafficking of democracy can be considered European or civilised behaviour. Needless to say, the Georgian authorities have no intention of being drawn into this trade in human beings that these radical groups are engaged in, sitting comfortably in their offices while people are being sent to prison. Nor do the Georgian authorities intend to engage in any trading in democracy,” Papuashvili stated.

For context, on March 15, following a meeting of the party leaders’ council, Lelo – Strong Georgia issued a statement calling for responsible political negotiations to begin between Georgian Dream and those opposition parties which secured the support of the majority of Georgia’s population in the 2024 parliamentary elections.