The Georgian Prime Minister referred to the participants of the rallies against the Russian Law as "violent youth groups organized by the radical opposition and financed from abroad," which are planning "violent actions" against the Parliament and the police tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Irakli Kobakhidze said that "everyone will be held accountable to the law for violence."
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"I would like to ask law enforcement officers to show maximum patience and act according to higher than European standards when responding to violence and abuse.
I want to warn every representative of the radical opposition who is planning to commit violence tomorrow and the day after tomorrow that their crime will not go unpunished and, most likely, they will not be subject to pardon from Salome Zourabichvili either," said the Prime Minister at the briefing held today, May 12.
Parliament will adopt the Russian Law tomorrow and the day after, thus, as Irakli Kobakhidze says, it will "enforce" the will of Georgian society. As the Prime Minister stated, according to the sociological studies conducted by the ruling Georgian Dream, 61% of the population supports the adoption of the law. He did not answer the journalist's question about when and by which organization the said research was conducted.
"This organization consists of a highly qualified team. More than 80% support the transparency of non-governmental organizations. The question regarding the law was raised directly, and exactly 61% recorded support for it."
Irakli Kobakhidze answered the question regarding the visit of US Assistant Secretary of State, James O'Brien, stating that "blackmail and threats" cannot make the ruling party retreat.
"Sanctions are not a serious issue, and it is impossible to blackmail the government and Georgian society with such threats. Georgian society has achieved so much in the past 30 years that blackmailing it is absolutely impossible.
As for the government, we have an extraordinary example from the honorary chairman of our party, the founder of the party, who entrusted 2 billion dollars to the West, which was frozen. Therefore, he is under de facto sanctions. But, of course, these de facto sanctions did not affect his decisions.
When it comes to the interests of the country, the interests of the state, of course, no blackmail, no threat can make us go back. You know the history of Georgia. In this country, for 3000 years, people sacrificed themselves for the independence of the country, for its sovereignty. When someone tries to influence your decision by blackmail, of course, it will not have any effect. I think they don't know Georgians; they don't understand us, and maybe the nature of a Georgian can be seen differently from a distance," said Kobakhidze, who hopes that during O'Brien's visit, there will be talk of rapprochement between Georgia and the United States of America, and not "artificial separation."
The protest will resume near the Parliament on May 12 at 10 pm, with demonstrators planning to spend the night. The discussion of the Russian Law in the Legal Affairs Committee will begin at 9:00 in the morning.
