The Parliament Legal Issues Committee supported the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents in the third reading. The session, which lasted one minute, was attended only by the majority members and the European Socialists party. No one raised any questions, comments, or opinions.
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"Nothing urgent... Did anyone have a question and didn't get a chance to ask it?" There was none," the committee chairman, Anri Okhanashvili, told journalists after the meeting.
Georgian Dream did not wait for the opposition MPs to enter the session hall. They claim that the police obstructed the entrance to the legislature.
"We were pushed out by the police. Then we waited for the press, but the journalists were not there either. The members of the majority did not even sit in their chairs when Okhanashvili finished the session. This is an illegitimate process," said MP Khatia Dekanoidze.
Opposition MPs have been attempting to enter the parliament since yesterday evening, but as oppositional Lelo member Ana Natsvlishvil says, they were illegally prevented from entering the legislative body.
"Since this morning, there has been a deliberate policy to use force and robocops to escort Georgian Dream MPs and create artificial barriers for the opposition members. The third reading was decided within minutes, and it was those minutes that we lost due to artificial delays. However, given the current situation in the country, where the government is orchestrating a constitutional coup against the will of the people, such actions are no longer surprising. This is sheer arbitrariness, reminiscent of the Russian character, which requires a Russian Law to legitimize it," Natsvlishvili noted.
A few hours before the session of the Legal Issues Committee, the Internal Affairs Ministry began clearing the entrances to the parliament of opponents of the Russian Law. The police and special forces used pepper spray against participants of the peaceful demonstration and arrested several people. Deputies of Georgian Dream entered the legislative body with the help of the police and left the building in the same way after the committee meeting.
The Russian Law will be submitted for consideration and voting at the third and final reading during the plenary session of Parliament tomorrow, May 14. Georgian Dream has the 76 votes needed to pass the law.
