UNM’s Bezhashvili claims to challenge party ban at European Court

“When the Georgian Dream failed to defeat the idea through democratic means, it resorted to implementing harsh legislative changes reminiscent of Russian tactics, where parties are directly banned,” stated Levan Bezhashvili, a member of the United National Movement.

Bezhashvili explained that the Georgian Dream exerts complete control over the composition of the Constitutional Court, and therefore, no impartial justice will be delivered in this case.

“For thirteen years, the Georgian Dream has been fighting the United National Movement. Year after year, they promised their voters that the United National Movement would disappear from their radar. But they could not quash the idea of the United National Movement, the ideals of patriotism, a successful Georgian state, and a European Georgia.

It is only natural that, when they cannot defeat this movement through elections or democratic processes, they resort to brutal legislative measures in the Russian style, effectively banning it outright. Most MPs will sign the lawsuit, and we know that the Constitutional Court is not genuinely impartial; it is not an independent arbiter.

The Georgian Dream has even succeeded in ensuring that the Court’s composition is fully under their control, except for two judges. Naturally, they will push this process to its conclusion; it is their Russian-style assignment. Ivanishvili publicly announced this back in 2024, if I am not mistaken, during a large rally on April 29. They will attempt to bring this process to an end, but it will undoubtedly be challenged before the European Court. The practice and legal arguments at the European Court are clearly in our favour; the standards for party bans are quite high there. Therefore, this process will not conclude as they hope,” Bezhashvili stated.

As the politician pointed out, the judges of the Constitutional Court have virtually authored the lawsuit concerning the banning of political parties.

“The legal arguments are so absurd that it took the Georgian Dream several amendments to the legislation to reach this point. The existing legislation did not provide a basis for the abolition of parties. They first introduced these amendments in May, then again in October, effectively laying the legislative groundwork for this lawsuit. Moreover, with the amendments made in October, they aimed to ban political activities for citizens. You may recall that a list was supposed to be compiled.

According to our information, they have communicated with the judges of the Constitutional Court; it is almost as if they wrote this lawsuit themselves. They also did not dare to prohibit political activities for citizens so unequivocally, or to compile such a list, making it unthinkable that any objective justice could be achieved or that clarity would emerge from this process within Georgia, under the jurisdiction of the Georgian Dream.

Nevertheless, we remain hopeful for the European Court, and we are confident that this case will continue there,” Bezhashvili stated.

The Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, presented a constitutional lawsuit seeking to declare the activities of the United National Movement, the Coalition for Change, and Strong Georgia–Lelo unconstitutional and ban them.