Situation tense at parliament as civic activists denied entry

The atmosphere around the Georgian parliament building earlier today was tense after civic activists were refused by police to enter the legislative body and attend the hearing of former Prosecutor General Irakli Shotadze, who has been nominated for the post again, at Parliament's Legal Issues’ Committee later today. 

Civic activists say that Shotadze does not deserve the post and his re-proposal was the “personal decision” of the founder of the Georgian Dream ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili. 

Opposition parties say that they will hold a demonstration at Parliament building at 10 a.m. tomorrow, during Shotadze’s hearing at the plenary session, protesting his possible election to the post. 

Shotadze, who resigned in 2018, has been selected among four shortlisted candidates for the same post by the Prosecutorial Council earlier this month. 

Civic activists have fixed the photos at parliament. Photo: IPN. 

Now the council presented Shotadze in parliament for hearings and then for a vote.  

If at least 76 MPs of a total of 150 vote for Shotadze, he will become the country’s first prosecutor general elected by parliament twice. 

Shotadze, who was the first Georgian prosecutor general elected by parliament in 2015, was nominated for the post by a legal entity, the Georgian Technical University. 

The post became vacant after former Chief Prosecutor Shalva Tadumadze was approved as lifetime judge of the Georgian Supreme Court in December 2019. 

The ruling Georgian Dream party, which has more than 90 MPs in parliament, vow support for Shotadze.

The opposition and the civil sector strongly oppose Shotadze’s reelection.