At the Parliament Legal Affairs Committee meeting where the Russian law on so-called Foreign Agents was discussed, the oppositional Citizens leader, Aleksandre Elisashvili, confronted the parliamentary majority leader Mamuka Mdinaradze and one of the law's authors.
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Elisashvili punched Mdinaradze in the head while standing near the tribune. The words of the opposition deputy can be heard in the video recording: "Your Russian..."
Due to the controversy among the members of parliament, the committee session was interrupted for several minutes.
"I have beaten Mdinaradze heartily. Did I say that I will do what needs to be done? It's not time to brag; they're going to drag us to Russia. We have to make this law in **s, either we are Georgians, or we are slaves and we are not slaves. Did you see it? This got into the Russian face of Mdinaradze. We should not tolerate this law. Those who love Georgia, come out, what is the importance of "Nazi," "Kotsi," they will send us to Russia. There is no other story here, and this law should not be included," said Aleksandre Elisashvili after the incident.
After resuming the discussion, the Legal Affairs Committee Chairman, Anri Okhanashvili, called on the opposition MPs to comment on the "unworthy behavior" of their colleague.
"Also, human rights defenders, if you are protecting your rights here, assess what this person caught. Any provocation will be responded to extremely and in the strictest way," Okhanashvili said.
Today, April 15, the ruling party in the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament began discussing a draft law targeting independent media and public organizations. Due to the decision of the Speaker of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, accredited journalists from online media outlets were banned from entering the legislative body. Before the session began, the parliamentary opposition called on the "Georgian Dream" party to withdraw the draft law.