Parliament Speaker: “acceptance” of wanted former official by the West “undermines values” of Georgia’s European aspirations

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said the “acceptance” of the wanted former official Zurab Adeishvili by the West “undermines the values underpinning Georgia’s European aspirations”, in response to a recent visit of Adeishvili to Brussels and Germany as part of a Ukrainian delegation.

In a social media message, Papuashvili said “relying on criminals for justice reform” contradicted the “very principle of the rule of law”.

Sheltering of Georgian criminal Zurab Adeishvili by the Ukrainian Government as an adviser to Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General, and his recent working engagement with German and European governing institutions are wrong signals that undermine the spirit of international cooperation for the democratic change”, he said.

“Adeishvili’s criminal record is well documented by the Georgian Court. He is sentenced to six years in prison on five criminal charges, ranging from unlawful abduction of persons to deliberate bankrupting of companies, while in government”, the lawmaker added.

Two more criminal cases are still in court proceedings. Had we not abolished the principle of consecutive sentencing, which Adeishvili had himself helped to introduce under ex-president Saakashvili’s rule, then he would have been sentenced to serve a total of 18 years in prison”, he continued.  

Papuashvili alleged the wanted former official was “one of the key architects” of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s “punitive and violent” justice and penitentiary system, “the memory of which still brings chills down the spines of our numerous compatriots”.

“There is no way that Adeishvili can be presented as a pro-democracy reformer to either Georgian people or the international community”, he stressed.

The chief Georgian legislator further added the Georgian Government had “refrained” from publicly raising the issue of the Ukrainian Government “harbouring Georgian criminals” until now.

“Ukraine is at war, but, again, there is no intelligible explanation for sheltering the criminals and refusing to hand them over to face the legitimate punishment in Georgia”, he said.

Besides Adeishvili, himself a grave criminal, there is also Giorgi Lortkipanidze, deputy chief of Ukraine’s intelligence service, who is accused, among other things, of organising the smuggling of Saakashvili into Georgia, days before the 2021 municipal elections”, he noted.

The Speaker alleged “nothing erodes Georgians’ trust in European values more than seeing violent criminal masterminds being embraced by Ukraine and, also, European democracies”.

He also claimed the domestic public “expects that European politicians and bureaucrats adhere to the rule of law, to common values, abandon the grey areas and take appropriate steps”.