If someone is talking about the deterioration of democracy in Georgia, I would like to urge them to listen to the investigative commission - I am ready, with great pleasure, to sit down with each of them and translate word for word – let them see the real raids, torture, rape in prisons, racketeering, - the Chairman of the Parliament's European Integration Committee, Levan Makhashvili, said while commenting on the resolution of the Congress of the Council of Europe.

According to him, the spirit that is mentioned in the resolution is completely unacceptable.

"Of course, the comments that we heard, or the spirit that is in this document, are unacceptable to us. We saw violence in front of the parliament. For example, the United States considers the throwing of a "Molotov cocktail" to be domestic terrorism. In fact, by American standards, these people consider domestic terrorism to be peaceful demonstrations. Also, the Transparency Act is still referred to as the Agents Act. I think it is now clear how lenient the Transparency Act is in terms of responsibility. Considering all these factors, of course, the spirit and statements that we have heard are completely unacceptable. If, in general, anyone is talking about the deterioration of democracy in Georgia, I would like to urge them to listen to the investigative commission and the speeches that we heard in this investigative commission. I am ready, with great pleasure, to sit down with each of them and translate them word for word. If someone talks about the regression of democracy, let them ask, listen and see what the real situation was - raids, torture, rape in prisons, seizure of state and racketeering," Makhashvili said.

For information, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution on the situation of local and regional democracy in Georgia. The resolution was supported by 101 MEPs, with 10 against and 3 abstentions.

The resolution expresses the Congress’s concerns on the following: Amid deepening polarisation in Georgia, the rapid and dramatic democratic backsliding observed over the past two years, has affected local democracy in Georgia increasingly; the progressive marginalisation of the opposition from the political scene and the lack of dialogue between the authorities and the opposition has led to a de facto absence of political pluralism, including in municipal councils; following the highly controversial adoption of the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence and the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) adopted in first reading, there has been increased intimidation and stigmatisation of NGOs and dissenting voices in the media, which work under increasingly challenging conditions, undermining their freedom of association and freedom of expression. In a democratic society, freedom of expression must be protected, supported and promoted irrespective of whether it is critical of the government, and even if it is influenced by international discourse; the brutal repression of peaceful protesters and opponents by law-enforcement authorities in many cities and particularly in the capital city of Tbilisi, has violated both the freedoms of expression and assembly.