Georgian Parliament Speaker holds politicians, NGOs, protesters accountable for attempt to overthrow Government

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday said political responsibility lies with the politicians, NGOs, and thousands of people who gathered at Freedom Square at 4 a.m. on October 4 with the aim of overthrowing the state.

In his remarks, Papuashvili emphasiსed that the main factor behind the coup attempt was the involvement of external forces.

“If it were not for them, such attempts would not have occurred in our country”, he said.

Using an analogy, Papuashvili compared the attempt to theft: “A thief believes they are entitled to certain possessions, so they enter another’s home and steal. Similarly, they think they are entitled to power and therefore can seize it by force. This is the same criminal morality”.

“As for responsibility, there is a graduation here. There is direct criminal responsibility, and you can see that the Interior Ministry and the State Security Service operate with a very high standard. There is a separation of who has directly committed a criminal crime and their identification and detention”, he continued.

“The second part is internal political groups, which include party and NGO groups that were full participants in the October 4 coup. They bear political responsibility and we are talking about this. Everyone knew very well why they were going there, and accordingly, political responsibility was shared by those politicians, NGOs and several thousand people who came to Freedom Square to overthrow the state. There is also a third responsibility - external forces, which are the main instigators of the failed coup attempt. Without them, there would have been neither violence nor storming attempts, including the earlier attempts on the Parliament building”, the Speaker concluded.