“We expect the Constitutional Court to deliver the only objective ruling, banning the activities of these so-called parties - which are, in reality, agents - once and for all, and freeing the opposition political landscape from occupation,” said Archil Gorduladze, Chair of the Legal Issues Committee.

Gorduladze made the statement in response to the announcement that the Constitutional Court would begin hearing a lawsuit seeking to ban the so-called parties.

As Gorduladze noted, the ruling party remains firm in its position.

“It is interesting that no one is talking about the details of the lawsuit filed with the Constitutional Court. The political parties themselves are not denying the facts at all, nor are they saying that such actions are unconstitutional. They are simply saying that political parties cannot be banned, even if they have gone beyond the bounds of the Constitution, and that’s the end of it.

The situation is exactly the same as it was with the so-called ‘Russian law’ - which was, in reality, a law on lack of transparency. Back then, they said we should not discuss its substance, because that was Georgian Dream’s territory, and should simply call the law Russian. They are saying the same thing now: in the eyes of some, exercising the right to file a lawsuit constitutes democratic backsliding.

That is because protecting their own agents is the duty of those who send them, and their patrons will do anything to save their ‘ordinary Ryans’ or agents bearing Georgian names and surnames.

We are awaiting the court proceedings, and we remain firm in our position. We have so-called political parties in the opposition landscape, represented under various labels and with different political identities, whose goal is to trample on human rights, undermine our country’s economy and social conditions, disregard the people’s choice expressed through democracy, and encourage extremism, thereby crossing constitutional boundaries. If we look at the examples of any country, this is grounds for banning a particular so-called party. We will present our arguments to the Constitutional Court. We expect the Constitutional Court to deliver the only objective ruling: these so-called parties - which are, in reality, agents - will be banned once and for all, and the opposition political landscape will be freed from occupation.

As for Manana Kobakhidze’s decision, based on what I have seen of her reasoning for recusal, I do not believe it has any legal basis. By the same logic, she should not have considered any law initiated by the Georgian Dream team. However, everyone is free to take their own position. She stated hers, the independent court considered the matter, and a decision was made. As for her motivation for submitting her resignation four months before the end of her term and stepping down at her own request, you should ask her,” Gorduladze said.

For reference, proceedings on the constitutional lawsuit seeking to ban opposition parties are scheduled to begin on October 21.