Georgian Parliament official says European officials stand on side of violence by failing to assess October 4 events

Rati Ionatamishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Human Rights and Civic Integration Committee, on Monday said that each day without objectively assessing the events of October 4 meant that European officials were standing on the side of violence, extremism, and domestic terrorism.

“Unfortunately, we have seen specific examples of this when the EU Ambassador maintained a pastoral relationship with a person who was directly promoting violence, calling on others to commit violence, explaining how to make Molotov cocktails and how to use them, giving instructions on how to set people on fire - and yet such a person was called a fighter for freedom”, he said.

“It was precisely due to the effective and coordinated work of our state institutions that we managed to avoid chaos in our country,” Ionatamishvili continued..

He also spoke about the posts made by Members of the European Parliament regarding the events of October 4, noting that these were direct incitements to violence.

“Our society expects an objective assessment. The EU itself also needs this assessment because when you sow disorder in another country, eventually you reap that disorder within your own ranks”, Ionatamishvili concluded.