Kupradze: For Three Days We Have Been Watching a Politicized Process at the Constitutional Court

Irakli Kupradze, General Secretary of "Lelo - Strong Georgia", assessed the process of reviewing the constitutional lawsuit on banning opposition parties. According to him, for three days they witnessed a completely politicized and legally unsubstantiated process, which has nothing to do with justice.

Kupradze said that when the country's prime minister declares that the "days of opposition parties are numbered," it means only one thing: the decision has already been made. According to him, over the three days they could not even understand what specific charge concerns "Lelo - Strong Georgia."

"For three days we have been asking a simple question: what specific charge concerns "Strong Georgia-Lelo"? We have not received an answer!" Kupradze said.

According to him, this is a time-displaced absurdity, since they are being forced to discuss events of 2007-2009, while "Lelo" was founded at the end of 2019. Kupradze says that one of the plenum's judges also confirmed the scale of this absurdity.

According to Kupradze, the court rejected all of their motions: it refused to request an advisory opinion from the European Court, to involve experts from the Venice Commission, and to consider the party's last year's lawsuit concerning the constitutionality of this process. He believes this is a direct continuation of the government's isolationist policy.

Kupradze noted that replacing two judges before the hearing and forcing the process demonstrated the "Georgian Dream's" order and interest.

According to his statement, "Strong Georgia-Lelo" does not stop the struggle, regardless of the decision the Constitutional Court makes. Kupradze added that the party will do everything so that not a single citizen of Georgia remains without representation and political choice. According to him, the party is joining today's Saturday march against one-party rule and authoritarianism.