Georgian opposition MPs interrupt session after Russian MP takes speaker’s seat during int’l assembly
People ralling in Georgian parliament, demanding Russian MPs to leave the country. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Georgian opposition MPs have interrupted the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) after a Russian MP and president of the assembly, Sergey Gavrilov addressed the audience from the Georgian parliamentary speaker’s chair earlier today.
Shortly after the address the opposition took to the tribune and stated that the presence of Gavrilov and other Russian MPs in the Georgian parliament was an insult to the Georgian and Ukrainian peoples, as Russia occupies the territories of the two countries.
They harshly criticised the Georgian government for allowing Gavrilov into the country, “as he fought and killed Georgians” during the armed conflict in Georgia’s currently Russian-occupied Abkhazia region in 1991.
Gavrilov addressing the audience in the Georgian parliament. Photo:TV Pirveli.
The opposition called on the public to come to the Georgian parliament building at 7 p.m. today to protest the presence of Russian MPs in Georgia and “protect the dignity” of the country, as the current Georgian government “fails to do so.”
Most of the members of the Georgian Dream ruling party also protested Gavrilov’s action and stated that what has happened in parliament “was not agreed upon.”
We made the decision that the assembly event will not continue in the Georgian parliament building because Gavrilov, without any beforehand agreement, dared to occupy the seat of the Georgian parliament speaker to address the audience. The session should have been moderated by a Greek Secretary General of the assembly and it is unclear how Gavrilov appeared in the seat,” one of the leaders of the Georgian Dream Mamuka Mdinaradze said.
Kutsnashvili says that "if it is necessary i will be held accountable." Photo: IPN.
He stated that the organisers of the event “will have to be held accountable:” for the “very big mistake.”
Mdinaradze stated that the assembly will continue “in some other place.”
Georgian Dream member Archil Talakvadze wrote that the assembly must be suspended.
There is no place for Russian MPs in the Georgian parliament. The assembly must be suspended and the Russian delegation must leave the parliament and Georgia,” Talakvadze said.
Founder of the ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili said that it is "unacceptable for a representative of the occupying state to lead some type of a forum in the parliament of Georgia. I am told that this was a protocol mistake."
Opposition MPs on the tribune. Photo: IPN.
Zakaria Kutsnashvili, a ruling party MP, who is the head of Georgian delegation at the assembly, says that ‘holding the assembly session’ in Georgian parliament was a mistake.”
The opposition MPs say that Kutsnashvili, “as one of the organizers of the assembly session in Georgia,” must quit.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili wrote on her personal Facebook page that Russia uses religion for political gains. .
What religious connection and relations can there be with a country which occupies our, and not only our, territories, fights with religion and all Christian traditions?! The country which does not allow the Georgian Orthodox population see the graves of their parents and pray in churches,” Zurabishvili said.
Today, the IAO unites over 20 states. Russia joined the organization in 1994. The 25th assembly was held in Greece.
The assembly was scheduled to be held in Tbilisi between 19 and 22 June. During the event, about 100 participants of delegations from 25 countries visited Georgia.
Ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia Ihor Dolhov temporarily left the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in protest when Gavrilov addressed the audience earlier yesterday at the former Avlabari Presidential palace.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that it was very difficult for him to see a Russian MP speak from the seat of the Georgian parliamentary chair. He says that the fact “affects national interests and the Georgian parliament.”
Russian MP Alexey Chepa, who is currently paying a visit to Georgia to attend the interparliamentary session on Orthodoxy, has denied occupation of Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) by Russia. Has also called for the return of the Soviet Union, and for the countries of the former USSR to be reunited.
Russian MPs who participated in the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy held in the Georgian parliament earlier today are leaving Georgia after an incident took place when Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov took the seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker, Tbilisi Mayor, Secretary General of the Georgian Dream ruling party Kakha Kaladze says.
Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov has claimed "radicals" in the Parliament of Georgia doused him in water and attempted to forcefully take his papers in an incident at the lawmaking body in Tbilisi on Thursday.
Georgian Foreign Ministry official Vladimir Konstantinidi says the Foreign Ministry agrees with the ‘fair’ public protest regarding the Russian MPs’ visit to Georgia. He stated the Foreign Ministry permanently raises the issue of the occupation of two of the country’s regions as this is the key priority for the agency.
Morning of June 20 protests outside Georgian parliament
Political opposition and part of the public erupted in protest in Tbilisi on Thursday after a Russian State Duma MP took a seat of the chairman of the Parliament of Georgia for an address to the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in the capital.
President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has called for "calm" amid unrest in Tbilisi as protesting crowds have been dispersed by police using tear gas in front of the parliament building.
The protesters are leaving the demonstration in front of the parliament of Georgia in central Tbilisi as the law enforcers have used tear gas and rubber bullets. The number of injured is not officially announced yet, but Georgian media reports a dozen of people have been damaged.
Zakaria Kutsnashvili, the organiser of the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy, which led to large-scale public protests last night has resigned as MP. He has thanked those who voted for him earlier and offered his apologies as well.
Georgian police have seized 12 Molotov cocktails in Tbilisi and arrested one individual, born in 1949. The Interior Ministry reports that the detainee planned to use the explosives during the protest rally which is currently underway at Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi.
The 2019 spring session of the Parliament of Georgia has ended today. The new speaker Archil Talakvadze stated that Georgia will never be ‘a hostage of aggression.’ He said political controversy is absolutely acceptable but it should not affect the country.
Deputy Interior Minister Natia Mezvrishvili says that police were attacked during the June 20 rally in Tbilisi and they were forced to defend themselves and use force. Mezvrishvili says that it is less important who made the order, or whether the police acted without the order of top officials.
Russian citizens have held a rally in front of the Georgian parliament building today, saying that Georgians’ anti-occupation protests are justified and that they do not share the attitude of the Kremlin on many issues regarding Georgia.
Greece’s Alpha TV channel has broadcast a video clip about tourism in Georgia. The video clip was made in collaboration between the TV channel and the Georgian Embassy to Greece. The video piece, which aimed to increase Georgia’s popularity amongst tourists in the country was shown as part of the TV programme Alpha Pantou.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that the draft resolution of the European Georgia opposition party, which urges for additional international sanctions against Russia, is destructive and will lead to imposing economic sanctions on Georgia.
The movement Shame, which was created after the June 20 rally dispersal in central Tbilisi, has presented its action plan in a rally on Rustaveli Avenue later today, promising ‘to defeat the authoritarian leadership’ of the founder of the Georgian Dream ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that he would resume direct flights with Georgia, which were suspended in July 2019, as a majority of Georgians ‘have seen the negative sides’ of the ‘provocation staged’ in the Georgian parliament on June 20.He said that the Georgian opposition deliberately sparked unrest in the Georgian parliament after the address of Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov from the seat of the Georgian parliament speaker that day.
The Ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia Ihor Dolhov temporarily left the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in protest when the member of the Russian parliament Sergei Gavrilov was addressing the audience in Tbilisi.
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been charged with several alleged offences in Georgia, says that the current Georgian government was on the verge of being overthrown in June 2019, when police used water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse a rally in central Tbilisi.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that the June 2019 ‘provocations’ [referring to protests in Tbilisi] have negatively influenced the process of normalising relations between the two countries which was launched in 2012 under the Georgian Dream leadership.
Georgian opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi reported last week that Leshchenko, ‘who sang the independence of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region and violated the Georgian law on the occupied territories,’ was vacationing in Georgia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that if Tbilisi ‘stops using Russia as a card to maintain western support’ Moscow is ready to restore ties with Georgia which were suspended after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
Civil activists are protesting the adoption of an amnesty bill by the Georgian parliament stipulated by the April 19 EU-mediated agreement for the June 2019 protests that were sparked by the presence of Russian MPs in the Georgian parliament. Georgian parliament adopted the bill earlier today with 79 votes in favour and 15 votes against it.
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has accepted a fourth complaint from the Human Rights Center (HRC) regarding a case of the June 2019 Tbilisi protests which were sparked by the presence of Russian MPs in the Georgian parliament. "The case named Berikashvili vs Georgia has already been registered by the court. A citizen affected by the (Georgian) Interior Ministry’s raided demonstration demands the establishment of violations of Articles 3, 10, 11 and 13 of the European Convention,” the HRC reports.
Protester Vakhtang Berikashvili who was injured during the dispersal of a rally during the June 2019 protests which were sparked by the presence of Russian MPs in the Georgian parliament has been granted victim status on December 9 after more than two years since the incident took place, the Human Rights Center (HRC) reports.