Georgian Parliament official: no one can escape crimes committed between 2004-2012

Archil Gorduladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs, on Wednesday addressed the Constitutional Court, where the substantive hearing of a lawsuit seeking to ban five opposition parties on constitutional grounds had concluded, saying that no one had the right to claim that individuals had been denied the opportunity to attend commission sessions, express their positions or provide information.

In his remarks, Gorduladze noted that numerous crimes committed between 2004 and 2012 were detailed in the findings of a parliamentary investigative commission and that no one could escape accountability for these facts.

“Of course, hundreds of statements were submitted to the commission, many of which could not even be included in the investigative commission’s report or discussed, because the commission held sessions over a six-month period. There were so many criminal acts that even six months were insufficient to properly assess the unconstitutional, unlawful and illegal actions of the United National Movement and parties closely associated with it”, he said.

“The several-hundred-page report submitted as evidence represents only a small portion of the list of unlawful acts that were part of our country’s reality between 2004 and 2012 and have continued from 2012 to the present day”, the Chair continued.

Gorduladze further added that the issue is not that the facts cited in the investigative commission’s report are false or do not correspond to reality, stressing that no one can make such a claim.

“They might as well argue that the deceased do not exist, that no property was seized, or that numerous rulings by the European Court of Human Rights do not exist. They might even claim that the case of Ochigava v. Georgia is fictitious”, he said.

“Our lawsuit contains references to the investigative commission’s findings, including references to HUDOC, the relevant website where anyone can access these judgments, as well as references to final and binding court decisions. Of course, the investigative commission’s report must be attached to the lawsuit. It has already been included and must not be removed from the supporting documents for one simple reason: it is a compilation of facts. Furthermore, the motion has been filed solely to evade recognition of the legitimacy of the Parliament of Georgia, the Constitutional Court of Georgia and the Parliament’s investigative commission. That is precisely why this issue has been raised”, Gorduladze continued.

The Chair concluded by emphasising that there was one undeniable fact: the investigative commission’s report details numerous crimes committed between 2004 and 2012, and no one can escape these facts, no matter how hard they try or what motions they submit.