On January 15, the legitimate President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, addressed the public and highlighted the ongoing processes in the country related to the wave of repressions, violence, and fear-mongering by the “Georgian Dream” party. According to the President, such actions serve to stop the protest, which, as she noted, “will not stop.”
“It’s a fact that after the New Year, a new wave of repressions, arrests, and intimidation has begun, which has only one goal – to stop the protest that will not stop,” – stated the President.
As Salome Zourabichvili noted, Georgia is now entering a new stage of the Russian regime, which is doing everything to restrict society’s freedom. “We have entered a new stage of the Russian regime, which clearly uses all the means that characterized and characterizes Putin’s Russian regime.”
One of the significant events that the President mentioned was the incident in Abu Dhabi, where Georgian deputies violently attacked a citizen: “Such behavior is characteristic only of authoritarian, dictatorial, totalitarian regimes,” – noted Zourabichvili.
She also addressed the fact of violence against Giorgi Gakharia: “I don’t want to single out politicians and others, it affects every citizen. Violence is unacceptable against anyone, attempts to intimidate citizens. This is unacceptable.” – stated Zourabichvili and noted that she would inform international partners about this issue.
At the end of the statement, Salome Zourabichvili addressed Bidzina Ivanishvili: “I want to tell Mr. Ivanishvili that this apparent attempt to provoke an even more intense confrontation, to escalate this, or at least to frighten us that this will escalate into civil confrontation, is unimaginable. There are not two sides in Georgia. There is society and there are those who are the bearers of violence. They too are participants in this violent regime. So, on one side is the regime, on the other side – society. In this case, Mr. Ivanishvili, society always wins,” – with these words, the President concluded her message.
