The Georgian authorities are pushing back the opposition

The Georgian authorities are getting closer to banning opposition parties. In particular, the deputies of the ruling Georgian Dream party claim that they have collected enough evidence for a corresponding appeal to the Constitutional Court. Meanwhile, their opponents continue to protest outside parliament against the investigation of crimes allegedly committed by Mikhail Saakashvili’s regime, but so far they have only received new problems.

During another rally, police detained one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, Elena Khoshtaria. According to the politician, law enforcement officers took her to a pre-trial detention center, where they used “inhuman methods of physical violence” against her.

“I always avoid bringing personal emotions or incidents to the public. Especially when so many young people become victims of the regime and torture. At the same time, I decided to tell you about the crime committed during my imprisonment, only because I know for sure that if I am treated like this, many people may be treated even worse. This is not new or surprising, but in such cases, public speaking, solidarity and protection of each other are weapons of struggle,” Khoshtaria addressed her supporters.

In response, the Georgian Interior Ministry said that the methods used against the oppositionist had been legalized back in 2016. At the same time, the detainee behaved aggressively and refused to obey the police. In addition, the security forces found a substance in her possession that could turn out to be a drug, and it was sent for examination.

“The process of placing prisoners in the isolation unit was recorded by video surveillance cameras. If they are interested, in accordance with the procedure established by law and with the consent of the detained person, the relevant authorities and human rights defenders have the opportunity to review the available videos. In addition, after being placed in a temporary detention facility, Elena Khoshtaria refused to meet with a representative of the public defender’s office,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Anyway, the next evening after his arrest, Khoshtaria was released without bringing any charges. “Suddenly they told me I was free, and they didn’t even ask me to call my lawyer,” she said. At the same time, there were no visible signs of violence on the oppositionist’s face.

Meanwhile, Levan Makhashvili, chairman of the parliamentary Committee on European Integration, said that the Georgian Dream would soon fulfill its election promise, according to which Mikhail Saakashvili’s regime would be condemned. At the same time, the authorities decided that it was not enough to investigate the events that took place before 2012, so they will also look into what the ex-president’s associates did after his resignation. “At every important moment for our country, we see the destruction that the United National Movement (UNM) and its associated individuals are carrying out inside and outside the country,” Makhashvili explained.

He also focused on the 2008 war. According to him, the Saakashvili government was at least unable to prevent the outbreak of hostilities and was generally incapacitated. “Given the current situation, it is already obvious that we have grounds to appeal to the Constitutional Court with a demand to ban the participation of the UNM and related parties or individuals in political activities.… This step is an act of saving democracy and healing Georgia’s political space,” concluded Makhashvili.

Political analyst Nika Chitadze told NG that, from his point of view, Saakashvili’s regime was even milder than the “Georgian Dream”. “For example, Saakashvili had only two cases when the police used excessive force against the opposition: November 7, 2007 and May 26, 2011. At the same time, he never tried to rig the elections.

At the same time, he believes that the threat of banning opposition parties is a preparation for bargaining with the EU and the United States. For example, the Georgian Dream will be able to declare that it will preserve the organizations of its opponents if Western countries stop or ease the pressure on Tbilisi. If blackmail fails, the government will consolidate its monopoly on power.

Archil Sikharulidze, founder of the SIKH foundation, believes that the Georgian Dream regime is even more liberal than the Saakashvili regime. This also applies to the police.

“Now the Georgian Dream is tightening the screws. But this is not due to her desire to make life more difficult for citizens, but to the fact that opponents of the government, with the support of some foreign ambassadors, began to violate the law more often, trying to show their disagreement with the policy pursued in the country. At the same time, under Saakashvili, the police not only had the right to everything, they also actively violated the law, using the government’s patronage. This was proved in the ECHR, among other things,” Sikharulidze told NG.