Parliament Speaker alleges “orchestrated and funded” int’l campaign on Saakashvili

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday alleged the existence of an international campaign “orchestrated and funded” for the purpose of promoting and lobbying for interests of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, following the latest disclosure on the United States Department of Justice’s website of activities of a lobbying firm associated with the former official’s lawyers.

Published on Tuesday, the new information revealed the lobbying company Akerman had been involved in drawing up a draft resolution for the European Parliament that was critical of the Georgian Government around Saakashvili’s imprisonment, preparation of articles about the health condition of the former President for international media, and persuasion of US senators to pursue sanctions against Georgia over his alleged ill-treatment in detention.

In his remarks over the matter, Papuashvili said the information had become known through the Foreign Agents Registration Act in the United States, and pointed out a similar draft law in Georgia had been branded “Russian law” by the domestic opposition and the country’s Western partners after its proposal in March, and its eventual retraction due to public protests. 

In general, it confirmed what we were talking about - that this entire campaign related to Mikheil Saakashvili, sometimes with the slogan of ‘Free Misha’, sometimes with the slogan of humanitarian transfer somewhere [abroad for continued medical treatment of Saakashvili], sometimes [with claims] about [his] torture [in detention], sometimes about poisoning - was an orchestrated and funded campaign”, he said.

“We have seen the ugliest side of what can be called politics - when you can bribe the media, politicians, tell them what you want, [and] spread misinformation”, Papuashvili added. 

We saw the commissioned articles [arguing the points of Saakashvili’s supporters]; we saw that [European Parliament] resolutions - which we were told were ideas of some MEPs with a special sympathy for Mikheil Saakashvili, ideas that [supposedly] originated and developed in the heart of Europe - turned out to be [products of] lobbyists from America writing the drafts of these resolutions. We also saw that there was constant communication between the lobbyists and MEPs”, the Parliament Speaker also claimed. 

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party in the Parliament, on Thursday said the latest disclosures on the activities of the law firm had “fully exposed” the “hostility” of the former official, the United National Movement opposition party and “their handlers” to “national interests” and Georgia’s European integration.