Georgian Parliament official cites party bans in Ukraine, Moldova in response to CoE Sec Gen remarks

Rati Ionatamishvili, the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights Protection and Civil Integration, on Thursday commented on a statement by Alain Berset, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who did not rule out the possibility that the case concerning a potential ban on political parties could be brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.

“Twenty-two parties have been banned in Ukraine and eight in Moldova over the past three years. Across Europe, 150 parties have been banned over the past decade. If all this does not constitute democratic backsliding in Europe, why does it in Georgia?” Ionatamishvili said.

He noted that numerous cases involving Georgia had previously been brought before the ECHR, claiming that Georgia had prevailed in every instance.

“We remember Mr Berset making a statement with a completely different message just a week ago. Now, it appears he has come under pressure, which has led to this change. It would be better for him to explain what happened over the past week that prompted this shift in position”, the official continued.

“As for the Strasbourg Court, we have seen many cases involving Saakashvili, Gvaramia and Rustavi 2, in which they lost against Georgia by a wide margin every time. The outcome will be the same in this case”, Ionatamishvili concluded.