Grigol Gegelia: ALDE is on the side of the democratic struggle of the Georgian people – the ban on leading political parties is assessed worldwide as a directly declared attempt and intention to establish the foundations of dictatorship
Of course, ALDE, just like every other European political family and the entire civilized community, is on the side of Georgian democracy and the democratic struggle of the Georgian people. The ban on leading political parties is assessed by any normal person, worldwide, as a directly declared attempt and intention to establish the foundations of autocracy, and more than that – of dictatorship, – this is how Grigol Gegelia, Foreign Secretary of “Lelo – Strong Georgia,” responded to the statement by ALDE Communications Assistant Aoife Devere on the lawsuit to ban the parties.
Grigol Gegelia states that ALDE assesses the attempt to ban the parties as a “Russian special operation against Georgian democracy and Georgia’s European and Atlantic integration.”
“I want to emphasize that in the world there is no one left who would see the ‘Dream regime’ differently. The only possible reading and interpretation of this matter is that the Russian regime is establishing a dictatorship, depriving a million Georgians not only of their voice, but also of the right of choice, and is officially imposing a Russian-style autocratic swamp in this country,” Grigol Gegelia noted.
While speaking with journalists, Grigol Gegelia also assessed the statement by the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, in which Papuashvili says that “until ALDE distances itself from ‘Lelo,’ the ally of a terrorist, any statement by the ALDE leadership regarding Georgia should be considered as a statement by an association that protects a terrorist.”
According to Grigol Gegelia, “the ally of a terrorist is that regime which from time to time engages in political life together with internationally recognized terrorist groups, specifically Hezbollah and Hamas.”
“We remember more than one frame, more than one moment when the top officials of this regime were at common events, in common spaces with internationally recognized terrorist groups, Hezbollah and Hamas, and we remember that open enemies of the USA and the European Union stood next to them in the same space.
If we are talking about alliance with terrorism, this regime can look in the mirror, just as when it talks about sabotage, it should look in the mirror. When it talks about an attempt at a constitutional coup, it should look in the mirror. Everything that this regime today accuses its opponents of is absolutely everything that is being done by their own hands against Georgia. Today ‘Georgian Dream,’ both from a legal and a political point of view, is writing its own indictment.
As for the specific case of ALDE, Aleko Elisashvili and his political movement ‘Citizens’ have never, not for a single day, been affiliated with ALDE; accordingly, it is unclear how ALDE can have any specific attitude in this regard. Aleko Elisashvili has never been, is not, and does not intend to be either a member of ‘Lelo’ or a member of ALDE; Papuashvili knows this very well, he continues the usual demagogy that he has been engaged in on this specific topic for a whole year,” Grigol Gegelia noted.
