Georgian Parliament Speaker slams EU’s visa-free travel suspension for diplomatic passport holders as “hypocritical”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday criticised the European Council’s decision to suspend visa liberalisation for holders of Georgian diplomatic and service passports, calling its basis “false and hypocritical”.

The EU body on Monday announced the suspension as a response to controversial laws passed by the Georgian Parliament last year, including the law on the transparency of foreign influence and legislation on family values and the protection of minors. 

The European Council argued the laws “undermine fundamental rights”, including freedom of association and expression, and could lead to “increased discrimination and stigmatisation”.

In a post on social media, Papuashvili accused Brussels of “targeting Georgia while ignoring the historical context” behind the original visa agreements. 

He reminded the public the agreement on simplified visa issuance for Georgian officials under former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s “regime” had been signed in 2010, at a time when “serious human rights violations had already occurred” under Saakashvili’s leadership.

Papuashvili outlined abuses from the Saakashvili era between 2004-2012, including “uninvestigated murders” of Sandro Girgvliani, Buta Robakidze, and Zurab Vazagashvili, seizure of media outlets like Rustavi 2 and Imedi TV, and  formation of a “systematic culture of torture” in Georgian prisons, later condemned by the European Court of Human Rights. 

The official also referenced “rigging” of the 2008 elections and the “regime’s complete control over businesses”.

Brussels rewarded the creators of this autocracy, not ordinary citizens, with visa-free travel, while it took another seven years - and the defeat of the regime by Georgian Dream - for Georgian citizens to receive the same privilege”, Papuashvili emphasised, labeling the EU’s current criticisms as “false and hypocritical”,

The Speaker also expressed frustration over the EU’s stance on Saakashvili, who is currently imprisoned in Georgia, and Zurab Adeishvili, the wanted former  Prosecutor General and Minister of Justice of Georgia, who is now in Ukraine.

This is the wanted Adeishvili, who was hosted by Brussels officials last year in the same rooms where this decision was made today”, Papuashvili said. 

He also noted the bloc’s decision was “no surprise given the ongoing calls for the release of Saakashvili, the architect of the authoritarian regime”.