“Georgian Dream,” as is characteristic of a dictatorial regime, interprets the law in accordance with its political goals and uses legal norms to achieve its political objectives, specifically to remove political leaders from processes,” said Maia Kopaleishvili, a member of the “Coalition for Change,” on PalitraNews’ program “Free Studio”, commenting on the detained leaders of her coalition.
According to Kopaleishvili, the imprisonment imposed on Elene Khoshtaria is not justified by the law.
In her explanation, the imprisonment imposed on Khoshtaria is “Georgian Dream’s” dictatorial interpretation of legal norms imposed on society.
“The Organic Law of the Electoral Code clearly stipulates that violations of electoral attributes should result not in criminal penalties but in administrative fines. Thus, it must be said from the outset that the detention of Elene Khoshtaria is not justified by the law, as ‘Georgian Dream’ generates this narrative in society, but rather it is their dictatorial interpretation of legal norms imposed on society, because they apply these behavioral rules exactly as it suits them, not as they actually are. Criminal norms cannot be used for actions for which specific responsibility has been provided, which the legislator distinguished at the time,” Kopaleishvili stated.
The opposition politician also spoke about the rally planned for October 4 and noted that coalition members always attend rallies and stand with the people, so they plan to go to the rally on October 4 as well. However, Kopaleishvili does not know what “surprises” the “National Movement” promises “Georgian Dream” and what “peaceful revolution” means, because, in her explanation, the coalition is not involved in organizational matters.
“We are not involved in the organizational part; we are not organizers, so we don’t know what specific party representatives mean. As for where we will be on October 4, we are always with the people; we attend rallies every day, and naturally, there will be a rally on the 4th, and we will be at that rally,” she stated.
Maia Kopaleishvili also addressed the issue of those detained in corruption cases and responded to Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement that the law will be enforced with full rigor against any crime. According to the opposition politician, the ruling team and Kobakhidze should be punished first, because when such large-scale crimes were occurring, he held a significant position at the time.
“Georgian Dream’s” entire rhetoric, including that of Mr. Kobakhidze, always targets his voters because voters of other parties know well what “Georgian Dream” represents. It turns out that the state didn’t exist until now because they suddenly remembered to fight corruption before the elections. And this action they’ve been talking about for two days now occurred during the period when they were patting themselves on the back for strengthening state institutions. It turned out that laundering money on such a scale was happening in our country, and this is only the part that was registered and that they’re telling us about. Naturally, there are countless other cases behind it that we don’t have information on and that haven’t been investigated, which indicates that state institutions were collapsed, not functioning, and not functioning as they should to detect this in time. And now Kobakhidze is telling us that everyone will be punished? Who will be punished – the representative of the currency exchange point? Is that the main person? “Georgian Dream’s” political responsibility? Exactly during that period, the party chairman himself was in place; he should start with punishing himself first,” Kopaleishvili stated.
Maia Kopaleishvili: The detention of Khoshtaria is not justified by the law; this is a dictatorial interpretation of norms – as for corruption, now Kobakhidze is telling us that everyone will be punished? He should start with himself, because actions are being taken during the “Georgian Dream” period
