UK MP Stephen Gethins has addressed the PACE summer session 2025, which discussed the current developments in Georgia. He said, “There must be inclusive dialogue, and that’s something that the UK and the OSCE have called for inclusive dialogue, political parties, civil society, peaceful and democratic solutions, which are so precious to all of us in this place.”

According to him, “We have a responsibility to our friends in Georgia and all those who aspire to the rights that we enjoy. So today I’m asking colleagues that we must make a stand and ensure that these rights, these democratic rights, are defended. And we are better to do so than in this place, to a place that for decades has defended democracy and our human rights across our shared continent regardless a shared , regardless of our differences.”

“This is  a serious debate for us, but a particular serious debate for our friends in Georgia. The convention and the rights that we enjoy are not simply as a result of us living on the continent of Europe.

The conventions affect the lives of our citizens to whom we are accountable in the normal democratic way. But there’s a condition – last night, President  Zelenskyy made outstanding contribution to this chamber, told us that there is one condition to membership, but it’s an important one, a crucially important one is that we stand for democracy and human rights, and we should guard that condition, absolutely jealously. Indeed, we all, regardless of whether we agree with each other or not, have a responsibility to do that.

You must respect democracy, and that’s hard sometimes, and we all know that. We’re politicians. We know that respecting democracy in the democratic process can be difficult. The path is hard, but it’s worth it. Now colleagues, the jailing of opponents and suppressing dissent is the opposite of what this place stands for. And we must stand against it and send a message that, yes, all European states are welcome, but they must abide by the rules and in that regard,

Mr. President, I recall our resolution #2600 earlier this year that called for the immediate release of political prisoners and also expressed the concerns of this chamber of arrests and the abuse of legal processes in Georgia, and that’s worthwhile remembering today.

We must allow all our Georgian colleagues to engage in democratic politics and also to allow them to engage with this place and with the Council of Europe without any fear. Can I say and put it on the record that if anyone is punished for attending the Council of Europe and engaging with elected politicians from across Europe, we must treat that with the utmost seriousness.

But let’s not forget the price that many Georgians are paying for their engagement in the democratic politics and the exercising of rights that so many of us take for granted. There must not be politically motivated prosecution, including for Zurab Japaridze, Nika Melia, Nika Gvaramia, Mamuka Khazaradze, Giorgi Vashadze, Badri Japaridze, and other persons who are facing politically motivated prosecution in Georgia.

Let me recall the words of Marta Kos, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, that the arrest of opposition voices is an attack on Georgia’s democratic foundations, which are being eroded by the day.  That’s serious, and we should take it seriously.

Anitta Hipper, a spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy at the EU said, the politically motivated persecution and arrests of opposition leaders go against basic democratic values. These are authoritarian tactics opposite of what we expect from an EU candidate country.

There must be inclusive dialogue, and that’s something that the UK and the OSCE have called for inclusive dialogue, political parties, civil society, peaceful and democratic solutions, which are so precious to all of us in this place.

We cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the suppression of these rights anywhere in Europe. Nobody knows better about that than our Ukrainian friends who, at this very moment, are spilling their blood in their own country to defend their rights, their democratic rights, and defend their democracy,” the UK MP added.