“Unfortunately, ‘Georgian Dream’ has reached the point where, after illegal arrests, we are now also witnessing illegal releases. What we saw today is a continuation of political retribution,” said Nika Simonishvili, Chair of the Young Lawyers’ Association, during an appearance on PalitraNews’ program Day’s Newsroom, commenting on the release of Zurab Japaridze, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change.

According to Simonishvili, the prison sentence is defined by the court, and an early release is unusual, not to mention illegal.

“There is not much I can say about this particular case. We are already used to ‘Georgian Dream’ illegally arresting people, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone released illegally. ‘Georgian Dream’ has reached this level. The prison term is set by the verdict, so releasing someone early is unusual, leaving aside the illegality. Another issue is sending a person out in a t-shirt in the middle of winter when they weren’t even allowed a jacket the day before… Essentially, the person was released in the middle of winter with just a t-shirt and without the means to get home. This clearly amounts to inhumane treatment by the state. Unfortunately, ‘Georgian Dream’ has reached the point where, following an illegal arrest, they also conduct an entirely unjustified illegal release. This imprisonment can clearly be assessed as illegal and contrary to the principles of a rule-of-law state. It was unequivocally political retribution. What we saw today is the continuation of that political retribution,” Simonishvili said.

He also spoke about new legislative regulations regarding gatherings and demonstrations, noting that “Georgian Dream” is trying to ban all undesirable forms of protest.

“‘Georgian Dream’ is doing everything possible to exclude citizens from participating in political processes and, with this latest step, seeks to prohibit all undesirable forms of protest, denying people the ability to express themselves. In reality, what we are seeing is that ‘Georgian Dream’ restricts political parties, prevents significant portions of citizens from participating in elections. In a democratic process, citizens can participate politically either through elections or through protest. They deny participation in elections to emigrants, deny support for parties to opposition-minded voters by banning parties. This leaves only one instrument: taking to the streets. Now protest itself is banned. Prison terms are even set for this, despite its unconstitutionality and incompatibility with international standards. Now, ‘Georgian Dream’ has effectively said that you are forbidden from holding a protest on the public roadway without their permission. They subordinated protest to approval, which is clearly unconstitutional. Permission cannot be required to protest, and it is especially unconstitutional to restrict public roadways for protest.

This law is so absurd, incomprehensible, and unserious that it is impossible even to say where the line between legality and illegality lies, even formally. In practice, it means that wherever the police say not to hold a protest, you simply cannot. This is the essence of the latest legislative changes. As a lawyer, I have no advice to give. In effect, ‘Georgian Dream’ has banned protest on transport routes and pedestrian paths. In this city, where is there a place that is neither pedestrian nor transport path? The whole city is like that. Should I sit at home and post on Facebook? Or should I protest on the riverbank where there is no pedestrian area?

At the beginning of the protests, we used to say that we were on the streets to defend Georgia’s European path. Today, we have come to the reality that we are not on the streets just to defend the European path; we are on the streets to preserve the country itself, to maintain the country’s sovereignty. Standing in protest today is not just about returning to the European path; it is about preserving the country’s sovereignty. This means that the country’s sovereignty could be concentrated in the hands of one person, and if they wish, they can hand it over to someone else easily because citizens will no longer have the ability to influence any process, either through elections or protests outside of elections,” Simonishvili said.

Another issue Simonishvili addressed was the elections for the Chair of the Bar Association. He stated that “Georgian Dream” is directly trying to support one candidate, which undermines the process overall.

“As a member of the Bar Association, I made my choice in the first round, and of course I will make my choice this week as well. To deny that ‘Georgian Dream’ is trying to leave its mark on this process and participate negatively would simply be wrong. It is enough to recall that the propaganda TV channels controlled by ‘Georgian Dream’ are doing a lot to support one candidate. ‘Georgian Dream’ is directly trying to interfere in the elections and influence the results. They are directly trying to support one candidate, which puts the process on a bad track overall,” Nika Simonishvili said.