“The goal of Georgian Dream is to fight demonstrations with disproportionate methods,” said Maia Kopaleishvili, a member of the Coalition for Change, regarding the tightened rules on assemblies and manifestations.

As she stated on PalitraNews’ program Free Studio, in the recent years of Georgian Dream’s governance, there has been regression.

“The biggest regression is that the country has an illegitimate government of Georgian Dream, which came to power through rigged elections. This leads to what we are witnessing — important laws being adopted in 3 minutes and 3 days in an illegitimate parliament.

Under Georgian Dream, regulations related to human rights are becoming stricter and stricter. Increased fines, administrative penalties, and now new amendments that Georgian Dream wants to use to restrict the movement of people participating in protests and assemblies. Assembly and manifestation is a special right, singled out by the Constitution and given exceptional importance,” Kopaleishvili said.

Kopaleishvili also responded to the statement of Archil Gorduladze, Chair of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, who said that assembly and manifestation “is not an absolute right.”

According to her, participation in assemblies and demonstrations is such an essential human right that it may be equated to an absolute right.

“It is true that neither freedom of expression nor the right to assembly and manifestation is an absolute right, but this does not give the state the authority to restrict these rights in a way that is equivalent to depriving them. The regulations they imposed indicate that Georgian Dream’s goal is to extinguish this right.

Georgian Dream aims to combat demonstrations with disproportionate measures. Meanwhile, participation in assemblies and demonstrations is an essential right, which may be equal to rights considered absolute,” Kopaleishvili said.

Additionally, Kopaleishvili commented on the Grand Chamber decision of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the events of June 20–21, 2019.

According to her, the Strasbourg ruling is a “diagnosis” for Georgian Dream.

“The Strasbourg Court’s decision is a diagnosis for this government. Georgian Dream will not be able to point the finger only at one person — the Interior Minister at the time. We should not forget that when a complaint goes to Strasbourg, it is filed against Georgia, because the state bears responsibility,” Kopaleishvili stated.