PM denounces statements by Georgian representatives in US congressional hearing as “betrayal”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday denounced as “betrayal” statements made by Georgian representatives involved in a congressional hearing in the United States on “supporting Georgia’s sovereignty and democracy” following the Georgian Government’s adoption of a controversial law on transparency of foreign influence.

Kobakhidze was speaking after Ivane Chkhikvadze, the European Union Integration Programme Manager at the Civil Society Foundation, Natalie Sabanadze, the former Georgian Ambassador to the EU and William Courtney, the former US Ambassador to Georgia, featured in the hearing with testimonies over the latest developments in Georgia.

The PM compared Chkhikvadze and Sabanadze with Sergo Orjonikidze, a Georgian-born Bolshevik, who played an active role in overseeing Red Army invasions of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia following the 1917 October Revolution and is considered to be the epitome of betrayal in the Georgian public.

Yesterday, what we saw in the Congress was a betrayal, I would say it directly. Yesterday, Vano and Natalie - [a collective] Sergo Orjonikidze - were talking about Georgia. It was a betrayal, it was a Bolshevik betrayal, which is very regrettable and sad”, he alleged.

In comments at the hearing, Sabanadze claimed democracy in Georgia was being “destroyed by the hands of the parliamentary supermajority” of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Chkhikvadze further alleged the controversial law would “fully erase the critical voices and destroy the vibrant civil society” that had been built in the country “with the generous support of our friends and partners” over the years.

The recently adopted law requires registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in Georgia as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.