Georgian Parliament official says foreign criticism of opposition party ban case lacks substance

Gia Volski, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party and the First Vice Speaker of Parliament, on Friday said Georgia had witnessed numerous instances of external interference, adding that statements by foreign officials lacked substance and amounted to issuing orders to the country.

Volski was responding to remarks by the Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and a representative of Germany’s Federal Foreign Office concerning calls to withdraw a constitutional lawsuit seeking to ban five opposition parties.

“We have seen numerous examples of external interference and numerous statements that have no substance. Their statements are blunt and resemble banging a fist on the table - they are ordering us not to do certain things”, Volski said.

“We no longer see political parties. These are revolutionary groups of conspirators acting against their own country”, he added.

The Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly had called on the Georgian authorities to withdraw the lawsuit seeking to ban the five opposition parties. Niklas Wagner, a representative of Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, had also expressed concern over the legal and constitutional proceedings.