The proposed version in the Council of Europe that we saw directly insults both the Strasbourg Court and the OSCE/ODIHR mission. I believe that such decisions will be damaging to the Council of Europe itself, and it really needs to be reconsidered, – this was stated by the Chairman of the Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, Rati Ionatamishvili, in a conversation with journalists.

According to him, the reconsideration of the decision is first and foremost needed by the Council of Europe for reputational reasons.

"The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe cannot make a decision that contradicts both the European Court in Strasbourg and the OSCE/ODIHR reports and conclusions. The proposed version we saw directly insults both the Strasbourg Court and the OSCE/ODIHR mission. Therefore, I think that such decisions will be damaging to the Council of Europe itself, and I believe that it really needs to be reconsidered. First of all, this is needed for reputational reasons by the Council of Europe itself," said Ionatamishvili.

He responded to a question about the opposition's role on the matter and stated that "they are a group of informers who try to harm our country every time."

"This is not the first time that the radical opposition directly acts against Georgia. They are a group of informers who try to harm our country every time. It happened with the European Union and in Brussels. They act the same way in Strasbourg. This seems to be their only area of activity, to harm our country in any possible way. Ultimately, the most important thing here is how the Georgian society will respond. Such hostile groups will always be radically unacceptable to the Georgian public," said Ionatamishvili.

For your information, the PACE Monitoring Committee offers the Assembly two options regarding Georgia, specifically, the conditional recognition and non-recognition of the mandates of the Georgian delegation.

Under the first option, the ratification of the Georgian delegation's mandates will take place on the condition that by April 2025, Georgian officials: begin working with the opposition and civil society to create an electoral environment for conducting truly democratic new elections; take steps to restore EU membership; end police brutality and human rights violations; stop the abuse of legal procedures against demonstrators, journalists, and civil leaders, and fully respect the right to freedom of expression and assembly. In this option, the Assembly will assess Georgia's progress on these points in April 2025 and will have the option to review the Georgian delegation's mandates, including possibly suspending them.

In the second option prepared by the Monitoring Committee, the requirements for Georgian officials remain the same, with the only difference being that in this option, the PACE will not ratify the mandates of the Georgian delegation.