Georgian Parliament official says encouraging violence in name of EU will only harm EU itself

Rati Ionatamishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee, on Friday criticised the European Union Delegation to Georgia for what he described as encouraging violence under the guise of European values.

Ionatamishvili was responding to a public message of solidarity shared by the EU Embassy in Georgia, which included a photo of Ambassador Paweł Herczyński and human rights defender Turadze, expressing support for activist Mzia Amaghlobeli, who slapped a police officer in the face while the officer was performing official duties..

“Encouraging violence in the name of the European Union will yield no results in Georgia but will be damaging to the EU and its reputation. It is regrettable that European bureaucrats and structures are entirely betraying the values on which Europe and European society stand. Hate speech, violence, and the encouragement of such issues are, in reality, unacceptable for Europe as well”, Ionatamishvili said.