Georgian Parliament Speaker predicts ECHR decision will silence foreign ambassadors on Mzia Amaghlobeli’s case

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday criticised certain foreign embassies, stating that they would eventually realise their mistake in evaluating the Georgian court's verdict in the case of Mzia Amaghlobeli.

Papuashvili’s remarks came after Amaghlobeli, the founder and director of the domestic news outlet Batumelebi, who was detained after physically assaulting a law enforcement officer, on Wednesday was sentenced to two years in prison.

In a social media post, Papuashvili criticised what he called politically motivated slander and attacks against Georgia’s judiciary, claiming such actions have become “a trademark” of certain EU member states.

“Time will pass and the ambassadors, silenced by the Strasbourg Court's decision in the case of Mzia Amaghlobeli, will remember how mistaken they were, just as they have been many times before, in their assessment of a Georgian court's verdict”, he said.

“None of these embassies ever apologised - neither in Saakashvili’s case, nor in Melia’s case, nor in Gvaramia’s case, nor in the Rustavi 2 case, nor regarding the storming of Parliament. Not once have they said sorry, even when the European Court of Human Rights ruled against them”, the Speaker noted.

He expressed regret that “some EU members have devalued their own word” by repeatedly misjudging Georgia’s judicial system.