“Nino Lomjaria, the former Public Defender, was in the same room with the leader of the ‘Gakharia faction,’ Giorgi Gakharia, on June 20. She was present for the decisions he made and the orders he issued. An ambassador of one of the countries was also present; this is a confirmed fact, and she herself acknowledged it,” said Georgian Dream MP Archil Gorduladze during a plenary session of Parliament.

According to Gorduladze, it is not surprising that Lomjaria’s report on the June 20 case did not include any reference to Gakharia’s responsibility. He claimed she would have tried to justify the then-Interior Minister because she was sitting next to him.

“When someone speaks about political justice, the court system, or political influence in the prosecution service, this is a direct attack on Georgia’s justice system and a classic example of interference in our internal affairs.

How can we not recall 2020-2021, when the Parliament Speaker personally raised before the EU mediator the question of where the provision about changing the method of selecting the Prosecutor General came from in the so-called Charles Michel agreement. That provision would have allowed the ‘collective National Movement’ to appoint a Prosecutor General under their influence. We later discovered that this supposedly never even crossed their minds – because they are not capable of decision-making or thinking. This was a direct external instruction.

If we had implemented all of this, we would have ended up with a Prosecutor General under political control, just like the Public Defender under Ms. Nino Lomjaria, about whom I can simply say that it is a confirmed fact she was in the same room with Giorgi Gakharia on June 20. She was present during his decisions and orders. An ambassador was also present; this is a confirmed fact, and she herself acknowledged it.

It even required the use of appropriate methods of persuasion or questioning by Ms. Tea, through which he [Giorgi Gakharia] admitted that an ambassador was present. So it is no surprise that Lomjaria’s conclusion contained nothing about Gakharia’s responsibility – because she would have tried to justify the person sitting next to her while those decisions were being made.

You have built a two-day PR campaign on Strasbourg Court rulings based on absolute lies and misinformation, claiming that the European Court ‘acquitted’ Gakharia. Either you are incompetent or you do not understand how Strasbourg judgments are written: one part describes factual circumstances and evidence, and the other part is the Court’s legal assessment.

In the descriptive part, the Court indeed noted that Nino Lomjaria, who was with Gakharia, stated she could not confirm any fact that he issued any order. At the same time, Gakharia himself, who previously went on television and said he was fully responsible for all actions on June 20, later, when questioned, began shifting blame onto individual police officers, claiming he was not responsible – even regarding the use of rubber bullets.

Taken together, the Strasbourg Court assessed that the June 20 case had not been fully investigated. The Grand Chamber did not acquit Gakharia; on the contrary, it found a violation due to the failure to properly investigate his actions in the case.

Stop whitewashing your leader. Sorry for the slang, but that is exactly what your attempts are.

And Mr. Giga Pharulava, perhaps they are hiding from you that Gakharia has been recognized as a victim in relation to two attacks against him, and an investigation is ongoing. We will see what this investigation reveals,” Gorduladze said.