GEORGIAN DREAM CHAIRMAN ADDRESSES THE ISSUE OF POLITICIZATION OF JUSTICE

Chairman of Georgian Dream Irakli Kobakhidze published a Facebook post on Saturday, in which he addressed the current political events in Georgia, including the arrest of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, administration of justice, and some international reactions to these issues: 

 “One of the main problems of the Georgian political system is the constant attempt to politicize the judiciary, in which, unfortunately, along with the radical part of the opposition and its affiliated media outlets and non-governmental organizations, radical opposition’s foreign lobbyists are also involved, some of which have political status.

 The clearest manifestation of the politicization of justice was their efforts that brought about the release of three criminals in 2020 and 2021 - Gigi Ugulava, Nikanor Melia, and Giorgi Rurua. Everyone sees that, today, these criminals, together with the main culprit Mikheil Saakashvili, play the most active role in polarization, which harms the interests of the Georgian state and society. The direct responsibility for all this, along with the radical opposition, naturally lies with all those who actively demanded the release of the criminals.

The vast majority of our foreign partners properly assess the current events in Georgia and have an objective attitude, on the one hand, towards the Georgian statehood and government, and, on the other hand, towards Mikheil Saakashvili and the National Movement. Most of them admit that Mikheil Saakashvili is justly serving his sentence in prison.

We often hear sincere criticism and remarks from friends. Such criticism is very valuable to us and we appreciate it. Based on the information that we provided to them, our partners, true friends of Georgia, have often changed their initial position, which confirms their sincerity. However, there is a small number of foreign politicians who stubbornly refuse to change their position and continue the lobbying of the National Movement in a straightforward manner, without any argument.

Since the issue of Saakashvili is the most relevant in this regard today, I will touch on this topic in a relatively detailed way. In particular, a few simple questions need to be answered:

• When the top state official physically assaults a member of parliament and protects the young man's killers by abusing his or her power, should he or she be punished for these actions (these are the two official charges under which Saakashvili was sentenced to six years in prison; Everyone in Georgia knows everything about the both cases; In addition, the Strasbourg court confirmed Saakashvili's guilt in Girgvliani's case)? The answer to this question is simple: if Georgia is a state and the rule of law is valuable, then - yes
• When a person convicted for these crimes crosses the Georgian border illegally, should he be arrested immediately? The answer to this question is simple: if Georgia is a state and the rule of law is valuable, then - yes
• When a convict goes on a hunger strike without any grounds and demands his release, should his request be satisfied? The answer here is simple: if Georgia is a state and the rule of law is valuable, then - no
• When a convict asks to be taken to a civilian clinic in order to be released from prison because this will give a chance to his accomplices to release him from there, should the authorities comply with the request? The answer is simple: if Georgia is a state, then - no
• When a convict refuses to be transferred from one penitentiary to another, the one with a clinical facility, should the state use proportionate measures to transfer the convict? The answer in this case is simple: if Georgia is a state, then – yes
• Finally, when the convict's accomplices categorically demand the release of footage of his transfer, even though they themselves know that the footage will not be pleasant to watch, and when there is a lot of lies and speculation about the non-release of footage, should the state share full information about the truth? The answer to this question is simple - if Georgia is a state that realizes its responsibility that society should not be misled by anyone, then – yes.

Thus, everything is clear today: if Georgia is a state, Mikheil Saakashvili must fully serve his sentence, and only because of his baseless demands, the government should not put the safety of doctors, patients, or law enforcement officials at unnecessary risk.

Where there is no justice, there is no peace - the ongoing political processes in Georgia are the best proof of this simple truth. Where justice was not done to the offender, there was a direct threat to peace and stability, which are a necessary condition for the smooth development of the country. Georgian Dream will never allow it. Law is enforced against all persons who have committed a crime.

One of the MEPs, who has been a long-time lobbyist for the United National Movement and lobbied for this political force even when Saakashvili's regime killed, raped, robbed businesses, kidnapped independent media outlets, and handed territories over to Russia, called Mikheil Saakashvili a “political prisoner”. We want to ask such people a simple question - do they recognize Georgia as a state? And if they do - do they believe that the rule of law is a necessary attribute of the state?

Since 2012, the judiciary and the law enforcement system in general in Georgia have made fundamental progress. This is evidenced by both basic statistics and assessments by reputable international institutions, including the Heritage Foundation, the World Justice Project, the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, and others. These ratings confirm that Georgia is a clear leader in the region in terms of independence and efficiency of the judiciary, and even surpasses up to ten EU member states. The judiciary, which was one of the main elements of the repressive machine of the Saakashvili regime, and which violated the dignity, life, health and property of many people in 2004-2012, has been radically and qualitatively transformed since 2012 and has been put in the service of justice.

Against this background, the only goal behind all attempts to discredit the Georgian judiciary, is to protect criminals and to pardon them for crimes they have committed in the past or will be carrying out in the future. Naturally, we cannot be loyal to this attempt, which is backed by the same parties, media outlets, non-governmental organizations, and foreign lobbyists.

With all of the above in mind, the question is simple - either these people recognize that Georgia is a state and the law must be enacted in the state, or we will have to label them as patrons of criminals. They must show that they are friends of Georgia and not friends of Saakashvili and his criminal team-mates.

If the law is not enforced against the criminals, especially against the criminals who are still driven by the ambition to return to power, Georgia will never be able to get out of the closed circle of polarization, and the Georgian Dream cannot and will not allow this to happen.

In the future, when we evaluate the steps of our foreign partners, the guide will be the main principle reflected in this letter - the Georgian state cannot cooperate with people who do not recognize this state as such, only due to political bias in favor of the criminals.”