Parliament Speaker: creating “gulag system” in UNM opposition’s “political philosophy”
The official of the lawmaking body was making the remark while commenting on the scheduled opposition rally next month - announced by the UNM this week - and claimed the party would “get their claws out as soon as they get even one gram of power”. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said “creating a gulag system and oppressing people” was the “political philosophy” of the opposition United National Movement party.
The official of the lawmaking body was making the remark while commenting on the scheduled opposition rally next month - announced by the UNM this week - and claimed the party would “get their claws out as soon as they get even one gram of power”.
Papuashvili made comments on the former Government of the UNM, which he said had “created a system where people were oppressed either by being sent to jail or through fear”.
Even today, the fascist campaign they have launched against people, their family members, when it comes to threats and psychological violence, shows that these people have not realised anything at all”, he noted.
“They are as violent as they were [when] in power. The only difference is that they have no levers of power and cannot implement their violent ideas”, the Parliament Speaker concluded.
Aleko Elisashvili, an MP from the Citizens opposition party, on Wednesday called on the United National Movement party and other opposition groups to join the ongoing work at the Parliament for fulfilling the European Union conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status later this year.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday responded to calls by a part of the domestic opposition and some MEPs for granting the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili release or postponement of the rest of his sentence on medical grounds by saying the country’s European future “cannot be conditioned on Saakashvili’s stomach”.
Givi Mikanadze, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the Georgian Parliament was on course to complete implementing the priorities set out by the European Commission last year for granting the country a European Union membership candidate status by the end of its spring session.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said comments at the European Parliament that mentioned the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili as a “political prisoner” demonstrated “corruption problems” at the body.
Khatuna Samnidze, an opposition MP and the Chair of the Republican Party, on Thursday said the demand for snap elections by a part of the domestic opposition was “wrong and a political short-sightedness”.
The Georgia Rugby Union expressed concern on Friday in its statement over the “systematic and deliberate” attempts of spreading “discrediting lies” about the Union and damaging its reputation.