Targeted action aimed at undermining Georgia’s sovereignty - Parliament official responds to UK sanctions

Maia Bitadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Environment Protection and Natural Resources Committee, on Thursday condemned the United Kingdom’s decision to impose sanctions on Georgian law enforcement officials.

In her remarks, Bitadze noted that the move was a deliberate action aimed at shaking the foundations of the country’s sovereignty and signaling that Georgia was not an independent state.

“It is very unfortunate that the United Kingdom, a country with such a great history, today has adopted the very wrong stance of the former US administration towards Georgia as a state. With a practically one-sentence explanation, it imposes sanctions on the representatives of Georgia's law enforcement bodies, whose work is practically the foundation of the country's security”, the Parliament official said.

“This is a deliberate action aimed at undermining the foundations of sovereignty in this country on one hand, and on the other hand, it clearly shows an attempt to make Georgia feel that it is not an independent state but, in this case, a colony of Britain. Naturally, this undermines the reputation of the UK itself”, he concluded.

The UK government announced sanctions against Georgia's Prosecutor General Giorgi Gabitashvili, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Shalva Bedoidze, Deputy Director of the Special Tasks Department Mirza Kezevadze, and Head of the Special Investigation Service Karlo Katsitadze. The grounds for the sanctions state that these individuals are or have been responsible for human rights violations.