Putting perceptions before facts made West a “victim” of Saakashvili’s “fake campaign” - Parliament Speaker
Parliament Speaker said the foreign partners were “perfectly capable of succumbing to false perceptions, thus undermining the trust in our relations”. Photo: Parliament press office
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Georgia’s Western partners were made “victims” of a “fake campaign” by the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, after the former put “perceptions before facts” in following claims by the former official’s supporters on his ill-treatment in detention and need for transfer abroad for medical treatment, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Thursday.
In a social media post, which followed Saakashvili’s announcement last week about his plans for “active engagement” in domestic politics, Papuashvili said the partners’ alleged preference for using perceptions around the case instead of facts had led to some of them falling victim to the “disinformation campaign”.
The response also came after the European Court of Human Rights’ rejection last month of the imprisoned former official’s application to see the Georgian Government ordered to facilitate his transfer abroad on health grounds.
Putting Perceptions Before Facts Should Not Be the West’s Approach to Georgia. Here’s Why:
— Shalva Papuashvili ???????? (@shpapuashvili) June 21, 2023
The belief that “perceptions are more important than facts” has done a huge disservice to some of our foreign partners, who fell victim of Mikheil Saakashvili’s large-scale disinformation… pic.twitter.com/GYA37q600w
Papuashvili said the ECHR verdict, and a disclosure made in February by the United States-based law firm Akerman, which showed the company had received $917,177 from Saakashvili’s family to lobby for his release, had “confirmed” the former official’s allegations against the Government were “fake” and “harmful” to the country’s image.
The Parliamentary official also alleged foreign politicians who had “repeated and shared this disinformation, whether knowingly or not”, had contributed to a “malevolent campaign against Georgia”, while the country’s Government had taken a “responsible approach” both to Saakashvili as a prisoner and the “fake campaign staged by him and his affiliates”.
The giant disinformation campaign that came, ironically, from the West - not the North as expected - harmed Georgia’s reputation worldwide”, Papuashvili said, adding “I believe that some of these politicians - especially in the European Parliament - owe an apology to the Georgian people”.
He added developments around Saakashvili since his arrest in Tbilisi in October 2021 on his clandestine return, had shown “no boundary to lies from Georgia’s radical opposition”, and added the country’s foreign partners were “perfectly capable of succumbing to false perceptions, thus undermining the trust in our relations”.
A disclosure of the law firm Akerman with the United States Justice Department has shown it received $917,177 from the family of the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for the purpose of lobbying US Government officials to help free the former official.
The imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili “decided to stop speculations and simulations with his health and admit he is feeling good” after the European Court of Human Rights in May rejected his request for seeing the Georgian Government be ordered to facilitate his transfer abroad on health grounds, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Wednesday.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said those who called for the release of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili on health grounds while knowing he was “faking his health condition” “must apologise to the Georgian public”.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Friday said the European Court of Human Rights had rejected the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s request to be transferred to Poland’s capital Warsaw for treatment.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said claims by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russia was “killing” Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s imprisoned former President who holds Ukrainian citizenship, “at the hands of the Georgian Government”, were “insulting”.
Georgian Parliament Vice Speaker Archil Talakvadze on Tuesday said the decision by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ask the Georgian Ambassador to leave Ukraine within 48 hours for consultations in Georgia concerning the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili did “not serve Georgia-Ukraine friendship” but added it “cannot cast a shadow on Georgia's support for the Ukrainian people and Ukraine”.
The Georgian foreign office on Tuesday expressed its “deep concern” over the decision of the Ukrainian authorities to ask the Georgian Ambassador to leave the country for consultations in Georgia concerning the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said “no consultations” were possible with Kyiv over transfer of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, and added the Ukrainian Government’s move earlier this week to send the Georgian Ambassador back to Tbilisi for discussions on the matter were “regrettable and insulting”.