Speaker promises delayed Nuremberg-style trial for 2012 torture system architects

“I believe this marks a historic process – a delayed Nuremberg trial, one that was previously impossible due to the foreign patrons of the United National Movement,” stated Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, regarding the temporary investigative commission studying the activities of the 2003-2012 regime and its political officials.

Papuashvili observed that “in 2012, when the Georgian people ousted the regime, the government was effectively blocked from fully administering justice against those who engineered the system of torture and corruption.”

“We see even today the extent of the protection this political group receives from those openly identified – even by the current U.S. administration – as the Deep State. Given their continued influence, one can only imagine the limitations imposed on the new government back then and the extent to which these foreign forces thwarted the prosecution of their protected agents.

Therefore, though belated, this Nuremberg-style trial will now proceed. We are fulfilling the promises made to our electorate. Every measure we take honours our pre-election commitments, including the prosecution of the United National Movement, which we are pursuing through the Parliamentary Investigative Commission.

Regarding the first day of proceedings, new revelations emerged that the public may not have previously encountered. Other issues served to refresh memories, and the commission once again exposed the criminal actions of the government following the August War. In reality, although the investigative commission must still delve into the details, there appears to be at least criminal negligence in their handling of evidence, and there may even be a deliberate intent to conceal certain crimes, while simultaneously portraying Georgian military personnel as complicit in various violations.

Yesterday, we heard the Justice Ministry representative recount the challenges they faced in 2012. These involved cases destined for defeat in both Strasbourg and The Hague, and the immense effort required by the Georgian Dream government to reverse the tide. Specifically, they rectified the situation wherein our soldiers were accused of war crimes, a fabrication orchestrated by the United National Movement’s then-Justice Ministry representation in The Hague. Georgian Dream overturned this, fully exonerating every one of our soldiers involved in the August War, and establishing that war crimes were, in fact, committed by Russian military units or their puppet government proxies.

Furthermore, we witnessed the state of proceedings in the Strasbourg court. There were over 3,000 cases against Georgia, and it was revealed that the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) was actively assisting in these cases against Georgia in Strasbourg. This is nothing short of scandalous. These same GYLA representatives are now involved in politics and speak of patriotism. These individuals were implicated in legal actions against Georgia concerning the August War in Strasbourg.

Therefore, the investigative commission will, of course, examine this matter in detail. We have also established, concerning this issue, that one of the key pieces of evidence, if not the most crucial, was the fragments of the Iskander missile. These fragments proved that, after Georgia unilaterally ceased military operations on August 10th, there was a premeditated Iskander strike on a peaceful city on August 12th. Without these fragments, demonstrating this would have been exceedingly difficult, and these fragments were provided to the United States as an act of goodwill,” stated Shalva Papuashvili.