On July 5, the Georgian Dream’s parliamentary majority and the opposition United National Movement faction submitted to the Parliament two competing draft resolutions, which provide political and legal assessments of the June 20-21 Tbilisi unrest and proposing further steps for the government to take.
The two draft resolutions are expected to be discussed at the Parliament’s upcoming plenary session.
Georgian Dream’s draft resolution
The draft resolution developed by the ruling party, which was presented by Gia Volski, leader of the parliamentary majority, notes that particular political groups used peaceful protests launched outside the Parliament building on June 20 for acting against constitutional order, naming among such “an attempt at storming the Parliament building and organizing group violence.”
The document also reads that “use of force by the police in response to storming the Parliament building was legitimate.” It also notes that “alleged facts of use of excessive force by police while impeding violent acts from occurring requires due response by the government.”
According to the draft resolution, the June 20-21 developments “are especially alarming as they follow the systematic public calls by certain politicians about the need to change government through revolution.”
The draft resolution calls on all government agencies to ensure “thorough, timely and transparent” investigation into an attempted storming of the Parliament, as well as “alleged cases” of abuse of power by police officers, and to identify the organizers and participants of the unrest.
UNM’s draft resolution
Predictably, in contrast to the Georgian Dream’s draft resolution, the draft prepared by the United National Movement mainly focuses on the government’s responsibility. The draft resolution slams the session of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy chaired by Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov as “an act against the state interests.”
The draft resolution, presented by MP Salome Samadashvili, instructs the Parliament’s foreign relations and human rights committees to make the so called “Gavrilov list,” to include those persons who are responsible for the June 20 developments and to impose international sanctions against them.
The UNM lawmakers noted that the list should include those persons who invited Gavrilov to Georgia; who ordered to use force against Georgian citizens on June 20; who accused MP Nika Melia of the developments and cooperated with the Russian demand to punish the lawmaker responsible for Gavrilov’s expulsion from the Georgian Parliament chamber. They also claimed that those MPs who voted in favor of lifting Melia’s immunity should be included in the list as well.
In addition, “Gavrilov’s list” should also include Russian politicians, whose visit to Georgia “is not welcomed.”
“We naturally do not expect that under the Georgian Dream, any cooperation is possible to identify the list of these persons, but we will have an opportunity to work with other parties [Public Defender, CSOs], who make a list of responsible persons, and in the future, when there is relevant political readiness and the government changes, the Parliament of Georgia will adopt this resolution,” Salome Samadashvili said.
Tensions mounted around 10pm Tbilisi time last Thursday, when part of the protesters tried to break through the first cordon of the police, but were pushed back by the riot police. Situation remained tense overnight.
240 people, including 80 police officers and 12 journalists have been treated for injuries. Many severe injuries to civilians occurred later during the night after the police dispersed protesters through massive use of tear gas and rubber bullets, including so called “less-lethal” rounds.
For more follow our tag on Tbilisi protests.
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