Georgian Parliament Speaker says coup project finished, calls on perpetrators to accept punishment

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said the plot to overthrow the government has been completed and called for those involved to face the consequences.

In his interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster, Papuashvili noted that everyone must now accept the outcome.

“The project, which involves the overthrow of the Government, is complete. Most importantly, now everyone must accept the consequences. If they had the courage to go against the state and their own country, now they must also have the courage to accept the punishment that follows for those who go against the country. So, they must be ready for this punishment as well”, the Speaker said.

Describing organisers who addressed several thousand people and urged the seizure of the president’s residence, Papuashvili said the public had watched the event unfold and that many of those organisers are now expressing regret.

He further accused the organisers of being agents who were given orders, emboldened to believe the operation would succeed without problems.

Asked by the host where opposition politicians disappeared after the October 4 events, Papuashvili replied with a metaphor: “Where do rats run when a ship sinks? Everyone fled like rats”.

He said many opposition figures have since been trying to explain themselves, asking why they were not present in Rustaveli Avenue when arrests were made, and that some were later taken from their homes or hospitals.

“This is the nature of a traitor and it will always be so. We must not forget their feigned innocence”, he added.
Papuashvili further asserted that what organisers had planned and what slipped through their propaganda should have resulted in bloodshed.

“There should have been shootings, fatalities - then chaos and a return to the 1990s. Afterwards there would of course have been expressions of concern from Brussels and elsewhere, humanitarian aid, and crocodile tears”, he said.

He also referenced international reactions, saying that during the night when the residence was being stormed, the President of Moldova issued a statement he characterised as supportive of “extremists”, though he said Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently softened its language.