Sichinava at Constitutional Court: International Partners Decide Who Gets Sanctioned

Berdia Sichinava, representative of the party "Gakharia for Georgia", responded to the lawsuit of Georgian Dream deputies at a session of the Constitutional Court. According to him, "Georgian Dream" equates itself with the state, hides behind the state, and presents the sanctioning of a specific person as sanctioning of the state.

Sichinava also spoke about the issue of distancing and asked where the element of distancing begins and whether distancing has been operating since 2025 or whether it also operated before 2025. In his question, he asked whether distancing works with regard to Bidzina Ivanishvili and his political team in relation to the actions of Giorgi Gakharia in the Chorchana episode, or whether there is a double standard here as well. Sichinava said that if anyone needs to distance themselves from someone, they have no obligation to present evidence of distancing from anyone.

According to him, his party has an independent political path, makes decisions independently, and does not intend to prove whether it is in a coalition with any political party.

Regarding sanctions, Sichinava stated: "International partners themselves decide who to sanction and who not to sanction, who is in opposition to the democratic order and who is not! There has never been a case where we specifically demanded the sanctioning of someone. These people hide behind the state and talk about how sanctioning people, including sanctioning under the "Magnitsky list", supposedly is sanctioning the state. Instead of talking about their own responsibility, they hide behind the state and say that this supposedly will cause something to the state"