“Let Papuashvili answer this: when he attended Armaz Akhvlediani’s school, how did the school fail to brainwash him?! Was he the only person who was so principled that they failed to brainwash him?! This is sophistry on their part, and they are doing it shamelessly,” analyst Lela Jejelava said on PalitraNews’ program “Day's Newsroom,” responding to statements by Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili concerning the activities of the Tbilisi School of Political Studies, which operates in Georgia under the auspices of the Council of Europe.

Jejelava said she would not find the conclusions reached by the investigative authorities convincing.

She expressed solidarity with the Tbilisi School of Political Studies and its head, politician Armaz Akhvlediani.

“Generally speaking, Irakli Kobakhidze’s and Papuashvili’s attitudes toward the European Union and financial assistance received from the EU belong in the realm of fantasy. These people are denying themselves and their own past because that is what their current political situation requires. Irakli Kobakhidze, who has spent his entire conscious life in non-governmental organizations, says that NGOs were created so that foreign powers could intervene in the previous century. First, let him answer which country or foreign power he himself, as part of the NGO sector, enabled to intervene in Georgia.

“Likewise, let Papuashvili answer: when he attended Armaz Akhvlediani’s school, how did the school fail to brainwash him?! Was he the only person who was so principled that they failed to brainwash him?! This is sophistry on their part, and they are doing it shamelessly. These two young men are denying themselves for the sake of power, and this ends very badly.

“I do not think that the European Union did anything in violation of the law, but in any case, whatever the investigative bodies of Georgian Dream investigate and whatever the court subsequently establishes will not be convincing to me. I perceive this as yet another instance of the authorities exerting pressure on an opponent,” Jejelava said.

She also discussed former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili’s latest letter, saying that it appears “Irakli Gharibashvili has decided to enter politics in some form” and that “there are signs of preparations for this outside [prison] as well.”

Jejelava did not rule out the possibility that Irakli Gharibashvili may have a political platform outside prison. She also said that members of Garibashvili’s “political platform” could include pro-Russian forces currently operating in the country, including Alt-Info, Irma Inashvili, as well as the so-called loyalists - members of Georgian Dream who were at the organization’s helm.

The analyst also said that Garibashvili’s statement that Georgian Dream is following Saakashvili’s path is false. According to her, Georgian Dream has actually embarked on a path toward the country’s complete degradation.

“When you participate in such deals, you are already guilty. There is a separate issue of culpability in the fact that he entered into a deal in his court case with the Georgian Dream group. A person who will not fight to prove his own innocence - what kind of politics are they talking to me about?! He did not fight to prove his own innocence, and he is supposed to fight for the country’s interests and we are supposed to have confidence in him someday?!

“He participated until the very end in the vicious and completely deformed system that Georgian Dream had been creating for 14 years. What does it mean to say, ‘I did not commit a crime, but I went to prison out of love for Bidzina Ivanishvili’? This is completely incomprehensible to me. How can a person’s love for someone force them [to go to prison]?! If he went as far as taking responsibility for a crime he did not commit out of love for Ivanishvili, can you imagine what he might have been willing to do to other people out of love for Ivanishvili?!

“As I see it, Irakli Gharibashvili has decided to enter politics in some form. I can see indications that there are preparations for this outside [prison] as well. Of course, we are all Georgians, and regardless of anything else, there is a certain degree of empathy toward a person who is in prison. Given the movements I see outside and the forces that are beginning to distance themselves from the government, I do not rule out that Garibashvili may have a political platform outside prison. These could, for example, be pro-Russian forces operating in the country, including Alt-Info, Irma Inashvili, as well as the so-called loyalists - members of Georgian Dream who were at the organization’s helm,” Jejelava said.

Asked whether Garibashvili’s failure to mention the surnames Kobakhidze and Mdinaradze in his latest letter could indicate that the former prime minister is entering into a confrontation directly with Bidzina Ivanishvili, Jejelava said that this is, to a certain extent, a warning.

“I would not call it a confrontation, but it is, to a certain extent, a warning and a message. Naturally, a person who has served twice as prime minister, as well as minister of internal affairs and minister of defense, possesses a great deal of information. I am not certain that he will use this information for the benefit of the country, but he may certainly use it to advance his own political interests. Naturally, given these messages, Ivanishvili should take them accordingly,” the analyst said.

She also commented on Shalva Papuashvili’s statement that “EU membership has no value for Georgia without Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region,” saying that Brussels is not demanding that Georgia give up its occupied regions in exchange for membership.

“Of course, Brussels is not saying that you must give up Abkhazia and Tskhinvali in exchange for membership. But the objective reality is that, at this stage, Georgian Dream has presented no plan whatsoever for returning Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region.

“I have a question for Papuashvili: when Article 78 was added to the Constitution in 2016, establishing the necessity of European integration, were they certain at the time that they had a consistent and credible plan for returning Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region? What does the European Union have to do with this? I do not understand. Is the European Union preparing to annex the occupied regions of Tskhinvali and Abkhazia?! If Papuashvili has even a little capacity for logical reasoning left, how can he blame the European Union for this?!” Jejelava said.