Georgia links EU to October 4 events after judicial ruling

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has stated that political responsibility for the October 4 events rests with Brussels, following a court ruling in the case he described as an attempted coup.

He said the court decision had established legal responsibility for organising the alleged attempt to overthrow the government, adding that the events had now received a formal judicial assessment, Caliber.Az reports, citing Georgian media.

“Now that it has been determined today who bears legal responsibility for organising the attempted coup, we already knew who bore political responsibility for the violence, and that is Brussels,” Papuashvili noted.

He claimed that EU institutions and some European politicians had expressed support for the unrest, including on the day of the incident.

He also accused several figures, including members of the European Parliament and Moldova’s president, of encouraging or endorsing the events.

Papuashvili made it clear that the European Commission and EU Ambassador to Georgia Paweł Herczyński should provide explanations regarding the October 4 developments.

He questioned whether the ambassador intended to apologise to the Georgian president, alleging that the EU had failed to condemn the violence.

He further argued that the EU had not acted in line with what he described as European values, accusing Brussels of tolerating or encouraging actions against state institutions.

The remarks followed a Tbilisi City Court ruling in the October 4 case, in which four defendants were each sentenced to seven years in prison for their role in the events.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov