We have evidence: the new US administration exposed that foreign money was being used to destabilize other countries. That is why all those organizations, including USAID, which the new administration calls a fraudulent organization, were closed, – Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, said when speaking about the summons of the heads of non-governmental organizations to the prosecutor’s office.
As Shalva Papuashvili noted, they know from evidence that preparations for revolutionary processes were being carried out through non-governmental organizations.
“We have the main evidence: the revelation by the new administration of the United States that foreign money was used to destabilize other countries. That is why all those organizations, including USAID, which the new administration calls a fraudulent organization, were closed. We know from evidence that with USAID funding, with the help of Canvas trainers, people were trained in picketing the parliament, resisting the police, etc. In other words, we know for sure that at one stage, preparations for revolutionary processes were being carried out with foreign money through non-governmental organizations. The Constitution of Georgia protects peaceful assembly. The Constitution of Georgia does not protect violent assembly, attacks on the police, attacks on the parliament, attempts to burn down the parliament. This is an illegal assembly. Can someone put their hand on their heart and say that there were no violent rallies in December, that the burning of the rooms of the Georgian parliament was not violence, that “Molotov cocktails” is peace, that shooting fireworks at people is not violence? We all agree that this was a violent action. When there is a violent protest, the police are not only authorized, but also obliged to prevent a violent action. Accordingly, to prevent this, the police call: stop, do not be violent. They called – they did not stop. The next stage is the use of special police means. The goal is for the water cannon to force the violent demonstrator to avoid this hotbed of violence,” Papuashvili said.
According to Papuashvili, “it is outrageous, in light of the confession of the head of ISFED, instead of investigating what the funding provided by their organizations was used for, they are blaming the Georgian justice system here.”
“What is the purpose of this equipment? So that this perpetrator can resist these police means, so that he cannot be affected by the water cannon. Water cannons, pepper spray or other special means are used to suppress a violent demonstration. When this is used, everyone should avoid the demonstration. The goal is to clear the area where the violence is taking place. Now it turns out that EU funding was used to provide the participants of the demonstration with equipment that would make them more resistant and not break up. This was admitted by the head of ISFED. It is astonishing that in the light of these revelations, instead of the EU ambassador, or the ambassador of any country that funds these organizations, coming forward and saying: “This is very thought-provoking evidence, we will study whether our grant was used to purchase equipment to resist the police,” we hear accusations against the Georgian judiciary. This is very outrageous,” said Shalva Papuashvili.
Shalva Papuashvili on summoning of NGO leaders for questioning: We know from evidence that foreign money, through NGOs, was used to prepare for revolutionary processes
