A deputy’s immunity has nothing to do with it. When an organized group attack is carried out against the highest state officials and members of the Parliament of Georgia, this requires the immediate initiation of a case, - stated “Gakharia For Georgia” MP Giorgi Sharashidze, along with party members, in front of the Prosecutor’s Office.

Members of the party “Gakharia For Georgia” are submitting a written appeal to the agency requesting the launch of an investigation into the physical confrontation in Parliament.

According to Sharashidze, the Prosecutor’s Office was obligated to open an investigation based on the footage circulated on social media, but since this did not happen, they decided to submit a written appeal themselves.

“It was a manifestation of systemic crime and a pre-planned and organized group attack. There is footage of this, it is very easy to decipher and identify. Four days have passed since this crime. The footage is publicly available in the media space, not only in Georgia but around the world. The Prosecutor’s Office and the Chief Prosecutor were obligated to launch an investigation into this and it did not require our written appeal. We still had some expectation that they would start an investigation, but since we saw that there has been no response to this day, today we are submitting a written appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office to immediately launch an investigation into this case.

A deputy’s immunity has nothing to do with it when an organized group attack is carried out against the highest state officials and members of the Parliament of Georgia. This requires the immediate initiation of a case. This is also included in the package of anti-democratic and human rights-restricting laws adopted by ‘Georgian Dream’ itself over the past two years. At the time, in order to save themselves, they toughened the article, including by Archil Gorduladze, who was the author of this bill, according to which an attack and violence against the highest state official provides for a much harsher punishment - up to 12 years of imprisonment. They themselves committed this crime and the whole country and the world saw that they were the organizers of this crime. Everything is clearly visible in the footage.

It is simply unimaginable that we should stop our struggle today, when Mzia Amaghlobeli is serving a sentence for slapping someone and a mother of many children, Elene Khoshtaria, is serving a sentence for writing on a banner. In this situation, these assailants, who, when they no longer have any arguments, resort to violence. Parliament was the only space where there was still a relatively free and healthy environment for debate, but they used violence even there because they had no arguments against us,” Sharashidze stated.

He also responded to statements by members of the “Georgian Dream” faction who say they do not see the need to investigate this case.

“The fact that they do not see the need for an investigation precisely proves that ‘Georgian Dream’ itself is a systemic abuser. What do you think - is there any difference between the Gori incident and what happened in Parliament? The main proof of systemic nature was also in Gori, and we said directly at the time - how is it possible that among 10-12 police officers not a single one was found who would stop it and say that this is unacceptable. Of course, it was a systemic crime and ‘Georgian Dream’ itself confirms that systemic violence is today their only lever for maintaining power. We see abusive ‘zonders’ and police officers on the streets who commit violence against people in detention vehicles and police buildings. Now we are also seeing abusive parliamentarians and politicians, including athletes, who commit violence against politicians,” Sharashidze stated.

For information: On June 26, a verbal and physical confrontation took place in the Parliament’s session hall. MPs from “Gakharia For Georgia” and members of “Georgian Dream” physically clashed with each other.

The verbal and subsequent physical confrontation followed a speech by “Gakharia For Georgia” MP Giorgi Sharashidze, in which he mentioned the visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Georgia and said to the Prime Minister: “The whole of Georgia saw those images of how you stood in the corner, which indicates your real role and place in power. Georgia has had many prime ministers, but never one like this.”

The confrontation in the session hall began with a fight between “Gakharia For Georgia” MP Giga Parulava and “Georgian Dream” MP Irakli Kheladze. “Georgian Dream” MP Lasha Talakhadze then joined the confrontation and hit Giga Parulava in the head. In an attempt to de-escalate the situation, Marshal Service employees began removing opposition MPs from the hall, during which Archil Gorduladze clashed with Giga Parulava. Geno Petriashvili also participated in the confrontation. After the involved MPs were removed from the hall, opposition MP Giorgi Sharashidze was confronted by Irakli Kirtskhaliya and Levan Machavariani.