Georgian Parliament official slams European Parliament resolution as “disconnected from reality”

David Matikashvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party and Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on Procedural Issues and Rules, on Tuesday strongly criticised a European Parliament report authored by Rasa Juknevičienė, calling it “completely disconnected from the truth” and a “further testament” to the European Union bureaucracy's deviation from its founding values.

The report, which calls for new elections in Georgia and the release of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, was labeled by Matikashvili as an attempt to “sell a complete lie” to the public and to “exert violence on the Georgian people by appealing to this lie”.

“This is yet another confirmation that the European Union bureaucracy today, unfortunately, is very far removed from the values on which the EU once stood”, the Parliament official said.

Matikashvili specifically took issue with the call for Saakashvili's release, referencing the European Court of Human Rights, which he said had ruled on Saakashvili's case and “stated that this person is exposed to systemic crime”.

“How many times do we have to hear that Mikheil Saakashvili should be released from prison? This complete absurdity, of a criminal individual, on whom the European Court of Human Rights itself deliberated and said that this person is exposed to systemic crime”, he concluded.