Serbian activists “invited to train NGOs, individuals” for “planned unrest” in Tbilisi - State Security Service
The Georgian State Security Service on Monday released a statement as part of its ongoing investigation over potential, planned unrest in the country. Photo: State Security Service
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The Georgian State Security Service on Monday claimed “top managerial representatives” from the Belgrade-based Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies had been invited to Georgia by the East-West Management Institute of the United States Agency for International Development programme last month to “train domestic civil groups and individuals for a planned unrest” in Tbilisi this fall.
The statement followed the agency’s claims on September 18 in which it said it had uncovered a plan by former officials of the previous United National Movement Government to cause “civil unrest” and overthrow the country’s Government using a “Euromaidan scenario” in November and December, through use of public fallout of the potentially negative decision by the European Union bodies on granting Georgia the bloc’s membership candidate status later this year.
The body said it had been monitoring the group, which it said involved Giorgi Lortkipanidze, the former UNM Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and currently the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian military intelligence, Mikheil Baturin, a former member of the security detail of the former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and Mamuka Mamulashvili, the commander of the Georgian Legion fighting in the ongoing Ukraine war, and alleged the efforts had been “coordination and financed” from abroad.
Video material released by SSS.
In its latest claims, the agency said Sinisa Sikman, Jelena Stojsic and Slobodan Djinovic from Canvas - an NGO founded in 2005 in Serbia to “advocate for the use of nonviolent resistance in the promotion of human rights and democracy”, had arrived in Tbilisi with the stated goal to “train culture sector representatives” in "strategic, non-violent struggle".
However, it said the “genuine reason” of the visit was to train Georgian organisations and individuals for the “planned protests and unrest” this fall, and added a “large group” had been trained in a Tbilisi-based hotel between September 26-29.
The body also noted the participants had been trained in “acting against target groups”, namely the Government, the Orthodox Church, the State Security Service and other agencies, as well the “techniques of blocking buildings and creating artificial traffic jams”, and setting up tents in front of administrative buildings.
The training also involved “creating tensions in the law enforcement structures” and alleged violence towards police, as well as financial matters related to protests, the agency added.
The SSS claimed the invited facilitators - who it said were interviewed at the agency around the purpose of their work on September 29 where they denied the allegations before departing on the following day - were “connected with revolutionary scenarios” in Tbilisi prior to the Rose Revolution in 2003, and similar developments in Serbia, Ukraine and “other states”.
They were actively teaching methods of creating emotional conditions for protest and tactics of conducting violent actions. Sikman and Djinovic were former members of Otpor organisation [formed in Belgrade in 1998 in response to a controversial piece of legislation in Serbia], an analogue of the Georgian organisation Kmara [a civil, youth resistance movement in Georgia before and during the Rose Revolution]”, the SSS said.
The body also released a piece of alleged video evidence it said had been obtained as a result of a confidential investigation with a judge ruling, before it was declassified by a prosecutor due to “growing public interest in the case”.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Thursday said his Government would “not allow any non-entities and enemies inside or outside the country” to “bring about any type of disturbance”, following a report by the State Security Service about an alleged plot for the overthrow of the Government.
Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday said the Government would “protect the country and its citizens” from alleged efforts by a part of the domestic opposition to “bring a disorder into the country”.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Monday said Giorgi Lortkipanidze, the country’s former Deputy Interior Minister under the United National Movement Government who currently serves as the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian military intelligence, had been “exposed for the second time” in “organising an unrest” in Georgia.
The Georgian State Security Service on Monday claimed it had uncovered a plan by former officials of the previous United National Movement Government who were aiming to cause “civil unrest” and overthrow the country’s Government using a “Euromaidan scenario” this fall.
Iraikli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said Georgia was a “sovereign, independent” state where the Government would ensure “peace and tranquillity” and “not allow either a revolution or [an opening of] a second front [amid the war in Ukraine]”.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Monday urged the United States Agency for International Development to respond to allegations by the country’s State Security Service that said the Agency’s East-West Management Institute had funded trainings in Tbilisi last month for causing “unrest” in the country this fall.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday said his Government would not allow “any disturbance or destabilisation” in the country by “destructive and radical” forces, in a comment following the State Security Service’s comment that alleged trainings of certain civil groups with the goal of organising an “unrest” this fall.
Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, the Deputy Interior Minister of Georgia, on Monday claimed the country’s State Security Service had obtained evidence of a “grave provocation against the state”, in response to the body’s statement over trainings of domestic groups for “anti-Government actions” planned this fall.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday commented on the draft amendments to the law of Georgia on Assemblies and Manifestations and said “it is our obligation to prevent unrest” in the country both at the legislative and practical levels, as “revolutionary” actions were planned this fall.
The Georgian Parliament on Wednesday approved amendments in the domestic Law on Assembly and Manifestation banning installation of “temporary constructions” during rallies on specific occasions in the first of three readings.
Irakli Chikovani, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Sunday said the amendments to the Georgian Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations limiting installation of constructions during public rallies were “necessary for stability”, noting the Parliament would override President Salome Zourabichvili’s veto on the bill.