“The fact that this crime is systemic was confirmed by other speakers as well, though in a less odious manner and by less odious people than Tea Tsulukiani. Tsulukiani put a final point on it when she directly said that we are one entity, one rotten political system, of which the law enforcement system is also a part. We all serve the same cause, and we should not make our enemies happy. She is effectively telling these accused individuals: ‘We are reproaching you not because we expelled you from the system — you are still tentacles of this system — but because you were not careful enough,’ meaning you should have done it hidden from public view,” said Giorgi Sioridze during the “Day Newsroom” program on PalitraNews while discussing the violence incident in Gori.

According to Sioridze, Tsulukiani’s statement and attitude amount to “encouragement of abusers within the system.”

“We saw that these people [the police officers] were detained demonstratively because the authorities had no other choice. At the same time, they are trying to gain political points by saying they reacted immediately, again bringing up the United National Movement, recalling the Girgvliani case, and so on.

The detainees were charged under an entirely inadequate article. Any lawyer, even a law student, will tell you that this is not merely an abuse of authority. This is a very dangerous precedent because the term ‘abuse’ creates the impression that some legal procedure was underway and that they simply exceeded certain boundaries. Here there was no such thing. It looked like choreography, as if they were trained for such actions and had assigned roles — one doing one thing, another dragging the victim away, another striking him, another filming. The entire dramaturgy creates the impression that such things happen systematically, they just are not usually caught on camera.

The fact that the crime is systemic was confirmed by others too, though in a less odious form than Tea Tsulukiani’s remarks. Tsulukiani simply made it explicit, saying that we are one rotten political system whose component is also the law enforcement system, and we all serve one cause and should not please our enemies. She is telling the accused officers: ‘We are reproaching you, not expelling you from the system, because you are part of this system, but because you were not careful enough,’ meaning it should have happened out of sight. How else should we understand Tsulukiani’s statement, from someone who has become a real political voodoo doll for Georgian Dream?

This woman [Tea Tsulukiani] spreads the most filth. A person who came from the Strasbourg system has politically evolved into becoming a censor, remembered in history for her illegitimate commission accusing Georgia of starting a war with the occupier, and now voicing the dirtiest rhetoric.

This is exactly the encouragement of those people within the system who may commit such acts in the future — the same type of encouragement as when Irakli Kobakhidze nominated ‘Khareba,’ Darakhvelidze, and others for the Order of Honor.

We should not view this as one exposed crime. This is a systemic crime that continues systematically, and the entire system is involved. That means they have a green light from above. When systemic crimes occur, the system periodically has to release some blood, as happened when five special forces officers were detained.

Now too, because the footage exists and the people are clearly visible, they had to sacrifice them. But what does ‘sacrifice’ mean in this case? They charged them under a lighter and inadequate article that pertains to a different crime. It carries completely different liability and the investigation itself, the examination of evidence, and everything else will follow a different course. I do not know under what conditions these people will be in prison, but the logic of such rotten systems points exactly to this. Kobakhidze talked about the Girgvliani case — what happened there? Saakashvili was also forced to arrest those people because of public resonance, and later pardoned them,” Sioridze stated.

According to him, responsibility for the incident lies both with the Interior Minister and the head of government, although, as Sioridze noted, “the system itself will not change unless it is dismantled.”

“Regarding the Gori case specifically, six people have been detained even though more than six individuals are visible in the footage. The others should at minimum be detained for inaction. Responsibility must move up hierarchically — to their superiors, to determine how much they knew, whether they were informed, and whether they could have controlled this. Legally, this reaches the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs because the police are part of that structure, and politically it reaches the head of government. The leaders of the Interior Ministry and the government should assume political responsibility, but that alone will not change the system, because the system needs one thing — it must be dismantled,” Sioridze said.

The opposition politician also spoke about the visit of the U.S. State Department delegation and meetings with opposition parties. According to Sioridze, the State Department representatives do not agree with boycott politics and believe opposition parties should remain engaged in the political process.

“The U.S. delegation met with opposition parties according to the configuration of the 2024 parliamentary elections. They met separately with us, Anna Dolidze, Freedom Square, and Citizens.

As for the political landscape itself, they directly stated — and I will say this openly — that they are deeply disappointed by boycott politics, specifically by what happened in Georgia last year, because they believe political parties should remain in political struggle and should not distance themselves from the main political process, including participation in unfair elections.

Our partners know very well what the situation is in this country, but they believe public representation is important.

I am repeating what I heard, and I do not think the Americans delivered different messages to the parties that are boycotting elections. They said word for word that they are deeply disappointed with boycott politics and believe political parties should obtain a mandate from the people in order to speak on behalf of the people both domestically and internationally with strategic partners,” Sioridze stated.