Georgia’s ruling party alleges “external support” for “brutal violence”, “coup attempt”, responding to European officials

The Political Council of the ruling Georgian Dream party on Sunday released a sharp statement addressing a letter signed by 17 European foreign ministers and the High Representative of the European Union.

The joint statement from the 17 European foreign ministers and the EU High Representative urged the Georgian government to “immediately release unjustly detained politicians, journalists, and activists, repeal repressive legislation, and engage in national dialogue with all relevant parties”.

The ruling party noted that the letter from the European officials contains “numerous pieces of disinformation”, including an assertion that activists were “unjustly detained”.

The party claimed this particular statement was further corroborating their belief that last year's attempted overthrow of the Government and the violence perpetrated by protestors were “externally supported”.

“The letter contains yet another piece of disinformation about allegedly 'unjustly detained' activists. This statement is nothing more than another illustration of the fact that the violent attempt to overthrow the legitimate government and the brutal violence of the protestors in November-December of last year were indeed supported from outside”, the statement said.

The statement went on to allege that the “violent attempt to overthrow the legitimate Government” was “opaquely financed” by organisations such as USAID, NED, and EED, and openly supported by specific European and former American officials.

The Georgian Dream also criticised these officials for labeling the “brutal violence as a ‘peaceful protest’, which even Soviet propaganda would not have dared to do”.

“Everyone clearly recalls that the violent attempt to overthrow the legitimate Government was opaquely funded by USAID, NED, EED, and other similar foundations, and was openly supported by specific European and former American officials. They also labelled the brutal violence as peaceful protest, something even Soviet propaganda would not have dared to do. As is well known, all processes concerning violent protesters are completely transparent”, the statement said.

Furthermore, the ruling Georgian Dream party reminded the signatories that attacking law enforcement officers in many European countries leads to serious legal consequences.

“Furthermore, we remind the officials who signed this disinformation-filled letter that out of several hundred violent individuals, only around 30 have been detained, which demonstrates the high standard of the investigation. We also remind the signatories that in countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Spain, and other relevant European countries, attacking a police officer carries multi-year prison sentences”, the statement noted.