Nika Gvaramia: Murtaz Zodelava has never been a party member: if being university classmates is grounds for conviction, then half of Georgia should go to prison

“[Murtaz Zodelava] has never been a party member. If being university classmates is grounds for conviction, then half of Georgia should go to prison. You are all classmates of those who have ruined Georgia,” Nika Gvaramia, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, told a representative of the plaintiff, Archil Gorduladze, during a hearing at the Constitutional Court in the case seeking to ban opposition parties.

Gvaramia was responding to Gorduladze, who had stated during the hearing that Murtaz Zodelava was connected to the United National Movement, which was “no secret to anyone.”

“He has never been a party member, and if being university classmates is grounds for conviction, then half of Georgia should go to prison. You are all classmates of those who have ruined Georgia. What they are doing now is unacceptable. First of all, it is wrong to establish a party affiliation based on a personal relationship. And yes, I confirm that we are talking about my friend, my university classmate, and so on. But it is unacceptable to attach some kind of party affiliation to him on that basis, whether for our party or the United National Movement. Just because I confirm that he is my friend, does that mean we are all coup plotters together? Aren’t you ashamed?” Gvaramia said.

Following Gvaramia’s remarks, an argument broke out between him and Archil Gorduladze.

“If we are going to start talking about who ruined what, then all those who ruined this country are here, and you are the respondents,” Gorduladze told Gvaramia.

After the argument between the two sides ended, Constitutional Court Chairman Revaz Nadaraya ordered Coalition for Change leader Nika Gvaramia to leave the courtroom.