Speaker calls on Saakashvili's int'l supporters to witness criminal regime they backed
Speaker calls on Saakashvili's int'l supporters to witness criminal regime they backed

“I call on Rasa Juknevičienė, Sikorski, and other admirers and protectors of Mikheil Saakashvili to watch live and listen to the kind of criminal regime they supported at the time and the kind of criminal regime they wish to restore in Georgia,” stated Shalva Papuashvili, Chairman of the Georgian Parliament, regarding the establishment of a temporary investigative commission in Parliament.

According to Papuashvili, the political initiative from the Georgian Dream party pertains to investigating the activities of the United National Movement since 2003.

“Our political initiative, which takes the form of a parliamentary investigative commission, concerns the investigation of the period from 2003, marking the establishment of the United National Movement regime. The aim is to scrutinize what this criminal regime represented in all its manifestations, including the seizure of media, the appropriation of businesses, the torture of individuals, and other systemic crimes. This is so that certain foreign actors—such as Poland’s Foreign Minister Sikorski, who referred to Saakashvili as a modernizer and beacon of democracy several months ago—can see what kind of regime they applauded between 2003 and 2012, and continue to endorse today. All of this will be broadcast live.

Therefore, I call on everyone—Ms. Rasa Juknevičienė, Mr. Sikorski, and other admirers and protectors of Mikheil Saakashvili—to watch live and listen to the nature of the criminal regime they supported in the past and the regime they wish to restore in Georgia. Let them understand why the Georgian people so resolutely reject both this regime and their foreign backers. As for the investigation from a criminal justice perspective, that is a matter for the prosecutor’s office.

We are making a political assessment, and it is essential to separate political evaluations from criminal justice assessments. Parliament will make a political assessment of this issue, but this does not preclude the possibility that criminal offences may be implicated within it. Therefore, it is vital that the prosecutor’s office carefully examines this matter and, where appropriate, conducts investigations and research to establish any potential criminal offences,” noted Shalva Papuashvili.