“Awarding the Sakharov Prize to a Georgian is more about exposing their enmity toward the country than honoring them,” said Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, during a briefing held today.
As Papuashvili noted, the decision by the European Parliament to award the Sakharov Prize to Mzia Amaghlobeli yesterday should be viewed as an act of provocation.
According to him, this prize once again demonstrated that “they neither respect nor value our state, sovereignty, democracy, or its order.”
“First and foremost, I will note that for 19 days, Brussels has refused to condemn the violent storming of the Georgian President’s Palace on October 4 and the attempt to overthrow the government.
Moreover, it is regrettable that Brussels is pursuing a policy of complete confrontation with the Georgian people and their choice, openly and covertly supporting marginalized radical groups whose actions are becoming increasingly extremist and desperate. Just as in the elections of 2024, 2021, 2020, and several others, we once again see encouraging signals from abroad that embolden defeated and bankrupt forces to resist.
This is exactly how we should view yesterday’s event, when the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize to Mzia Amaghlobeli. Today, Mzia Amaghlobeli is a hostage of a defeated and disgraced protest, forced to conform to the false image of a hero crafted for her. Such an attitude toward a person and their fate is truly deplorable.
More broadly, this prize has once again shown us that they neither respect nor value our state, sovereignty, democracy, or its order. Under the pretext of values, they encourage anti-state and destructive activities at every level.
Through such Orwellian doublespeak, they attempt to establish a distorted reality, where the European Parliament declares a perpetrator of violence against the country a hero, while branding the country’s patriot an enemy. The example of Lazare Grigoriadis was enough in its time, when Brussels declared a ‘Molotov cocktail’ thrower a hero, and we saw the consequences of that. This false glorification of a perpetrator gave rise to new perpetrators: one ‘Molotov cocktail’ led to ten, one burned car led to an attempt to set the Georgian Parliament on fire with the EU flag in hand.
In addition to all this, awarding the Sakharov Prize to Amaghlobeli has once again shown that Brussels lacks sensitivity toward the Georgian people. They do not understand Georgia’s true voice—who we are, where we come from, what troubles us, and what brings us joy. If they understood this in Brussels, they would also remember that the Sakharov Prize bears the name of an enemy of Georgian statehood, who called us a ‘small empire’ and supported Georgia’s dismemberment. Similarly, they seem to forget that the Sakharov Prize was also awarded to the Russian chauvinist Navalny, who zealously supported Georgia’s occupation.
Awarding the Sakharov Prize to a Georgian is more about exposing their enmity toward the country than honoring them. The true irony of this fact lies in this: a prize named after an enemy of Georgian statehood, Sakharov, is awarded to an activist who has attacked the Georgian state itself.
But what can we expect from people who, until recently, presented prosecutor Nika Gvaramia, who persecuted media, and Saakashvili’s corrupt minister Davit Kezerashvili as journalists, or from those who engage in polite correspondence with the organizer of violence and domestic terrorist Tsetskhladze?
It is impossible, after two elections held in the past year, for anyone not to understand the sentiment in the country, where the majority of the Georgian people stand, and what they want. Therefore, their policy insults the Georgian people and their choice, pits people against each other with externally instrumentalized political issues, encourages violence, and casts the most vulnerable participants in violence as victims.
Even today, we see such encouraged individuals who are deliberately and cold-bloodedly sacrificed to face the consequences of clashing with the rule of law. We see that every open or covert organizer keeps their distance, avoids standing at the forefront, and sacrifices others as cannon fodder.
This tactic is clear to us. However, it does not work and will not work. The state will calmly, steadfastly, and methodically protect order, security, the constitution, and the absolute will of the majority in this country. Everyone will have to face this reality,” Papuashvili stated.
Shalva Papuashvili: Awarding the Sakharov Prize to a Georgian is more about exposing their enmity toward the country than honoring them
