Sichinava at Constitutional Court: Asking Anyone About Police Post in Chorchana Is Self-Limitation of Sovereignty

Berdia Sichinava, representative of the party "Gakharia for Georgia", addressed the "Georgian Dream" representatives at the Constitutional Court session and said that expecting anyone to be asked about the placement of a police post in Chorchana is a self-limitation of sovereignty, at a time when up to 22% of the country's territories are occupied.

According to him, just as the prosecution did not go to the village of Chorchana, he does not believe that the persons who write about Chorchana in the constitutional lawsuit were present there.

According to Sichinava, the norm cited in the "Georgian Dream" lawsuit softens and shifts Russia's role as an aggressor. He asked the plenum to assess the action cited in the lawsuit in the part concerning Chorchana, and noted that a different decision could directly undermine the country's sovereignty.

"Russia, recognized as an aggressor state since 2008, bears responsibility for violations of human rights in the occupied territory and for exercising effective control there," Sichinava said.

According to him, after criminal prosecution was launched against Giorgi Gakharia, the agency of the occupied Tskhinvali region, which, according to Sichinava, is run by the local KGB, announced ahead of the meeting of the mechanism for preventing and responding to incidents that the main issue under discussion is moving a police post to Chorchana. Sichinava said that after the meeting, which the State Security Service attends, the Georgian side's representatives do not speak up about what claims were raised by the representative of the occupation forces, Egor Kochiev. According to him, Kochiev directly says that he welcomes the launch of prosecution against Gakharia, and the situation is analogous in the format of the Geneva International Discussions.

Sichinava noted that he does not address the substantive consideration of the case and only asks the court to assess the action cited in the lawsuit.

He added that he has personally been to Chorchana several times, and that village residents directly say that without the police post the village would today be occupied and emptied. According to him, once the post is abolished, representatives of the occupation regime will seize the village of Chorchana.

"Therefore, presenting this issue as a violation of territorial integrity does not meet any criterion, including international legal ones," said Berdia Sichinava.