Unlike the European Court, the foreign political mediators of the April 19 agreement stressed the “perceived politicized judiciary cases” instead of violence and made these “perceptions” the “subject of political discourse,” Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili posted on Facebook.

According to the Speaker, the protesters last week attacked the parliament building. The mistake of 2019 was made again, and some foreign actors labelled those violent rallies as “peaceful” condemning police legitimate actions, using minimal force.

“The below-given article of the April 19 agreement, which was drafted with the mediation of the EU and US, aided in the release of two criminals and amnestied perpetrators and convicts of the June 19-21, 2019 protests. This article was introduced to the Georgian Dream by our foreign partners to foster “Georgia’s political stability.”

However, later, the amnestied criminals did their best to radicalize the opposition and exacerbate political polarization. One of the released persons was Nika Melia, former Chairman of the United National Movement (UNM) party, whose bail was paid by the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), the entity which refuses to disclose its financial statements but financed NGOs and political parties, demonstrating radicalism these days.

This amnesty inspired political violence and gave hope to perpetrators that they would escape punishment if foreigners were involved in their cases.

On May 7, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in the case of Tsaava and others vs Georgia, unequivocally confirmed that the Georgian parliament was attacked violently on June 20, 2019. The European Court determined that the use of special forces by the police was legitimate against the violent rally.

Unlike the European Court, the foreign political mediators of the April 19 agreement speak about perceived politicized judiciary cases instead of violence and turn these “perceptions” into the “subject of political discourse.”

Last week, the protesters attacked the parliament building again. The mistake of 2019 was made again, and some foreign actors labelled those violent rallies as peaceful, condemning police legitimate actions, which used minimal force.

Such a superficial and biased attitude toward political developments only inspires political violence and undermines the democratic process in Georgia. And this happens against the backdrop of the fact that, even though they make the wrong conclusions every time, these actors do not even think about taking responsibility,” the Speaker said.

Shalva Papuashvili cited the ECHR May 7 judgment.

21. At 11.22 p.m. multiple individuals in the front rows of the demonstration restarted joint attempts at forcibly breaking through the police cordon.
22. Various accounts estimated that between 300 and 1000 individuals had attempted to forcibly break through the police cordon and had behaved in an aggressive manner.
23. The scuffle between the demonstrators gathered in the front rows and the officers forming the cordon on the stairs of the Parliament building continued until 11.55 p.m. and included incidents where police gear was taken away, various items (water bottles, but apparently stones as well) were thrown at the officers, and individual officers were split off from the cordon and led away. Some of these officers appear to have been physically assaulted.