“At the same time, as the head of the Georgian delegation stated, Georgia remains a member of the Council of Europe”, – WRITE: www.radiosvoboda.org
Shortly before this, the PACE approved a resolution calling on Georgian authorities to release political prisoners by April 2025 and declare a new parliamentary election. The PACE also recognized the authority of the Georgian Dream delegation with “limited rights” today – with a number of warnings – and stated that she would return to consideration of this issue in April 2025.
The Georgian Dream states that a number of warnings are unacceptable for her because they are “unfair and unfounded.”
Tsulukiani called the reservation about the appointment of new elections “categorically unacceptable” and stated that it “goes beyond the competence of this Assembly, violates our country’s sovereignty and ignores the will and facts of over a million hundred and a hundred and a hundred thousand voters.”
“The adoption of this caveat on our part would be equivalent to betrayal of the vast majority of our voters and society,” she said.
It was she who read the joint decision of the Georgian Dream team: “Despite the fact that our powers have been approved, we have stopped working at the Parliamentary Assembly from today.”
At the same time, Twulukiani said that “Georgia, obviously, as a state remains a member of the Council of Europe.”
Later, the head of the Government of the Georgian Dream Irakli Kobakhidze said that the PACE decision was a “absolute absurd”.
“If the decision on the Georgian people and our country changes, we will, of course, return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, although it makes no sense to work in such a situation today,” he said.
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The political crisis broke out after the Georgian Dream won in the parliamentary elections, which, according to the organization on security and cooperation in Europe, were overshadowed by violations, including cases of bribery of votes, physical violence and intimidation.
Since November 2024, protests continue in Georgia. They began after Iraklidze Prime Minister Irakakhidze announced the suspension of negotiations on accession to the EU by 2028.
In December 2024, rallies near the building of the legislature several times turned into a fierce clash between protesters and units of special purpose of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In this case, hundreds of people were injured in varying severity.
More than 400 oppositionists were detained under administrative police resistance protocols. 53 activists were charged with group violence and spoiling state property.