Tea Tsulukiani: I have witnessed conversations where Hubert Knirsch was speaking rudely and disrespectfully to high-ranking officials, telling them: “You must do this now"

"I have been present during conversations with other high-ranking officials of ours when Hubert Knirsch spoke in an outright rude manner to those officials, telling them: 'You must do this now.'

I was not present during any meeting with Gakharia, but I have witnessed others. He has given me tasks which I did not carry out," – stated the Chair of the Parliamentary Temporary Investigative Commission, Tea Tsulukiani, regarding former German Ambassador to Georgia Hubert Knirsch.

At today’s session of the commission, the topic under discussion was the dispersal of the protest rally on the night of June 20, 2019. The guest speaker was Giorgi Choladze, former Head of Administration for then Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze.

According to Choladze, on the night of June 20, the former German ambassador Hubert Knirsch was present in the Parliament building alongside then Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Gakharia. Choladze noted that the ambassador should not have been there. He said he asked Gakharia why the ambassador was in the Parliament building, and Gakharia replied "sarcastically."

"He answered me, in his usual sarcastic tone, ‘He was walking down Rustaveli and my guys brought him up,’" Choladze stated.

Tsulukiani asked Choladze whether the ambassador had the right to be in the Parliament building at that time.

"I believe the Minister of Internal Affairs should understand that when a protest turns aggressive and non-peaceful, and there is an attempt to storm the Parliament, and the Minister intends to disperse such a protest, it is absolutely basic that a foreign ambassador should not be by his side during such a time. Now, from the ambassador’s point of view – did he even have the right to sit in a place from where the operation to disperse the rally was being directed? Diplomatically speaking, what is that?" – Tsulukiani asked Choladze.

To that, Choladze replied: "In general, it was not appropriate. To stay diplomatic – the ambassador should not have been there."

Tsulukiani asked him to recall what the German ambassador was doing in Parliament that night.

"Mr. Knirsch was known for giving me tasks, which I, as Minister of Culture, did not fulfill. He was involved in difficult conversations, which were anything but diplomatic. I have been present at other conversations with high-ranking officials, where he spoke directly and rudely to them, saying: ‘You must do this now.’ I wasn’t present at any such conversation with Gakharia, but I witnessed others. I have told this on air as well – I was given a task that I did not carry out. I have seen him assign tasks to others and engage in harsh conversations. So why is it impossible that such a person could have given Gakharia an inappropriate task or provoked him – or someone else outside? Maybe you could recall what this diplomat was doing in a place where the Minister of Internal Affairs was making operational decisions about dispersing the rally?" – Tsulukiani asked Giorgi Choladze.

To that, Choladze responded that the ambassador was observing the situation.

"Honestly, he was sitting and observing the situation. [No one was translating for him.] I spoke to him. He might have asked a question like ‘What’s happening? Is the situation tense?’ but things like ‘How many people are there, what special means are being used’ – I don’t remember anything like that. He was just sitting and watching, someone who did not understand [Georgian] at all. He knew English, but there wasn’t any special approach or communication with him. Maybe he spoke with Gakharia – I truly didn’t see that. There was communication, naturally, but what it was about – I don’t know. Gakharia speaks German excellently – that’s to his credit. He knows Russian better, as far as I know, but his German is excellent, so he probably spoke to the ambassador in German," said Choladze.