Giga Lemonjava: Ivanishvili’s building – Georgian Dream – is collapsing on his head and he is trying to glue it together with glue – Gharibashvili is tasting the heavy burden of injustice on himself, while Geladze has been given a salary so that he does not take offense and start talking

As long as Ivanishvili remains the de-facto authority, as long as he still has power, Georgia has no European future written for it. The European Commission’s enlargement report, in my opinion, will be unprecedentedly critical, unprecedentedly harsh, and regrettable and lamentable for the citizens of Georgia, – this was stated by one of the leaders of the “Coalition for Change,” Giga Lemonjava, while appearing as a guest on PalitraNews’ program “Day’s Newsroom,” in response to the publication of the European Commission’s annual enlargement report planned for 4 November and the expectations related to it.

According to him, 80% of Georgia’s citizens want this country to become a member of the European Union, and among them are also supporters of “Georgian Dream.”

“The phrase of the European Union’s Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos is that ‘Georgia has candidate status only on paper.’ This is a regrettable reality. Bidzina Ivanishvili, an instrument of Russia’s hybrid war, is doing everything so that Georgia never becomes a member of the European Union. If this is in anyone’s interest, it is in Russia’s interest. The reality created inside the country, starting from the ‘Russian laws,’ then the seizure of the parliamentary elections of 26 October 2024, Irakli Kobakhidze’s well-known speech of 28 November 2024, the ‘Tsulukiani Commission’ which adopted a text of treacherous content, and now already the process of banning political parties – all of this is part of one large context whose task is that Georgia never become a member of the European Union.

If anyone still had the illusion until now that under Ivanishvili’s hand it was possible for Georgia to become a member of the European Union, I think it is clear to everyone today that this will not be the case. As long as Ivanishvili remains the de-facto authority, as long as he still has power, Georgia has no European future written for it. Tomorrow’s enlargement report of the European Commission, in my opinion, will be unprecedentedly critical, unprecedentedly harsh, and regrettable and lamentable for the citizens of Georgia. 80% of Georgia’s citizens want this country to become a member of the European Union. Among them, by the way, are still supporters of ‘Georgian Dream,’ that is, those people who still support ‘Georgian Dream.’

Ivanishvili has created an extremely complex and heavy propaganda machine with which he is trying to convince approximately one-third of his own electorate, which is pro-Western, that under Ivanishvili’s hand this country has a European future. The process of banning parties that is now underway in Georgia is exposing the regime, unmasking the regime, and our task is for as many people as possible to learn about Ivanishvili’s real intentions. These real intentions are, on the one hand, the irreversible destruction of a European future for Georgia, and on the other hand, a blow against Georgia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and statehood.

As I told you, for part of the electorate of ‘Georgian Dream,’ approximately one-third, a European future is important, and when Shalva Papuashvili says that they supposedly remain a pro-European force, they are speaking precisely to these people. They know very well that if this one-third falls away from them and these people see that this so-called government is going nowhere toward Europe, this one-third will slip away from them. ‘Georgian Dream’ is not a force that stands on the support of the people. The only thing ‘Georgian Dream’ needs is propaganda and fear.

Ivanishvili is no independent, sovereign autocrat at all; Ivanishvili is a marionette directly subordinate to the Kremlin, a criminal who will do what he is ordered from the Kremlin. This is the reality, and what does the Kremlin want in Georgia? – The Kremlin, Russia, wants Georgia to be a poor country, for Georgia to be a corrupt country where the so-called government steals money from the pockets of people, of the poor. Russia wants Georgia to be a criminal country where criminal gangs rampage and the main driver of the country’s economy is criminal businesses – these are ‘call centers,’ these are banned crypto-platforms, schemes for circumventing the sanctions imposed on Russia; this is Russia’s interest. Russia’s interest is also that Georgia never become part of the Western space,” Lemonjava stated.

While appearing on the program he also spoke about the ongoing legal proceedings related to the recognition of five opposition parties as unconstitutional and noted that “the abolition of parties is an absolutely deliberate, planned process.”

“Only the abolition of parties should not be understood merely as an attempt to make the opposition spectrum disappear; this is also, first and foremost, the cutting off of more than half of Georgia’s citizens from the political process, the taking away of choice. First they took away choice from the emigrants, now they are taking away choice from our fellow citizens living on the territory of Georgia. They are doing this because they are afraid of the people. They know that they are standing on feet of clay. However much we may or may not like the opposition, it is impossible to say that the future of this country is Bidzina Ivanishvili or Irakli Kobakhidze. That the future of Georgia cannot be Ivanishvili is something everyone agrees on. When a political force falls into the condition that ‘Georgian Dream’ is in now, then the only way left to retain power is simply to cancel elections.

Ivanishvili’s regime is facing two choices: 1. It must hold elections, about which it knows that it has a 100% loss. 2. It must abolish this right of choice altogether and go down this path. Only this path will necessarily end with the collapse of the regime, and the later this happens, the far more painful it will be for Ivanishvili. The more insolence he commits until this regime collapses, the far more painfully it will collapse and the far heavier will be the responsibility that the Georgian people will impose on Ivanishvili’s regime.

Bidzina Ivanishvili has already been in de-facto power for 14 years; it is interesting what Bidzina Ivanishvili thinks, how much longer this de-facto rule can still continue.

How stupid does a person have to be, what desperation and irrationality does all of this speak of, that they think they will ban the entire opposition, then bring in one or two incomprehensible parties into the elections and by this the so-called government will become legitimate – this cannot happen. The parties that are being banned now, according to their own falsified counts, have received up to a million votes. Who is Vato Shakarishvili at all? Who supports Vato Shakarishvili? Does Ivanishvili hope that he will ban the entire opposition that has this type of support, bring some incomprehensible people onto the political field, and by that the electoral process will be legitimate? – This is madness. In reality Ivanishvili is now in a swamp. The more he flounders, the deeper he will sink into this swamp. This regime has entered such a spiral from which return is impossible. They are in Hades; from there they cannot return. The more he tries to flounder in this swamp, the deeper and deeper he will sink, and his descent will be far faster under the conditions of such decisions.

Let us face reality: political parties may not be greatly loved in Georgia. We too have a problem of trust. Russian propaganda, over these 14 years, set itself the goal that there should be no trustworthy politician or political party in Georgia that would have very high public trust, and this was their, the Russians’, task; however, I feel that the ban on political parties will necessarily lead to the strengthening of trust toward these politicians and political parties. When people see that you may be banned juridically, but you do not give up this struggle, you do not back down, if you show the people that the main goal of your life is not the struggle for a seat but the struggle for a better future for society, for the Georgian people, for the citizen of Georgia, then trust toward you will necessarily grow.

The ban on political parties will lead to greater international pressure against the regime, more international sanctions. 80 percent of the sanctioned officials have either been removed or hidden. The issue of sanctions worries Ivanishvili the most. This desperate step of Ivanishvili regarding the ban on political parties will not in reality weaken us; it will give us the chance to prove once again very clearly to society that for us being in politics is not a careerist goal but has the task of serving the people,” Giga Lemonjava stated.

Another issue on which Giga Lemonjava spoke on the program is the court process of former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, the decision to close which was taken by the judge yesterday. According to him, “Gharibashvili himself is one of the creators of this unjust system and is now tasting the heavy burden of this injustice on himself.”

“Gharibashvili now wanted a fair court; now he has thought about the importance of fair, free, independent and impartial justice when he himself has come face to face with this problem, when he needs to say a word and they do not let him say that word, they close the processes. Probably he is now thinking how important an independent, impartial and highly professional justice system is. Gharibashvili himself is one of the creators of this unjust system and is now tasting the heavy burden of this injustice on himself. What is happening to Gharibashvili and not only, to Liluashvili, to other criminals of ‘Georgian Dream,’ I look at from the point of view of the weakness and confrontation existing inside the regime. It is clear that the ban on political parties still does not change our final goal. We have always imagined victory against this regime through the collapse of the regime, through weakening it so that it cannot govern. In this task one of the central issues is the deepening as much as possible and the greater use of the confrontations and cracks existing inside the regime. Any autocratic regime collapses that way, which is what is now happening in ‘Georgian Dream.’ Cracks are appearing inside the regime that widen so much that they finally lead to collapse. We see that other ‘Kotsis’ have also started going slowly to Gharibashvili’s court; we saw Rati Bregadze.

I clearly see that the issue related to Gharibashvili is not simple inside ‘Georgian Dream,’ just as the issue of Liluashvili is not. Do you know how all of this will end? – When 100,000 people come out into the street and the resistance becomes as large-scale as it was in the November–December days, and when the end of the regime, of Ivanishvili, becomes far more tangible than it is today, Gharibashvili, Liluashvili and others will also start talking. They will necessarily start talking. They do not yet see the prospect of change, but as soon as people come out into the street, when it becomes clear that the people do not intend to retreat, they will necessarily start revealing more details about the evils of this regime. They will want to be on the side of the victor. They will necessarily want to drive the final nail into Ivanishvili’s coffin,” Lemonjava stated.

In addition, he also responded to the departure from office of former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Gela Geladze and noted that “Gela Geladze has simply been found a salaried job.”

“They have simply found Gela Geladze a salaried job. The Oil and Gas Corporation has been turned into a place of highly paid employment for representatives of the ‘Georgian Dream’ regime. They appointed him a salary so that he does not take offense in such a way that he starts talking about things that will damage this regime. He possesses a lot of information and is dangerous for the regime. They are trying to keep him satisfied. When the collapse begins, satisfying these people by such means will be impossible. Everyone will want to be on the side of the victor. Ivanishvili now has a building collapsing on his head and is trying to glue it together with paper glue. The building that is called ‘Georgian Dream.’ It cannot withstand the earthquakes that are in this country. However much they may lie that the protest does not bother them, that the sanctions do not bother them. It is clear that inside the regime there is confrontation, problems, and he is trying with paper glue to glue this building together, which will not work. We will watch the process of the collapse of this building with great pleasure,” Giga Lemonjava stated.