“Two days have passed, and none of the parties understands exactly what Georgian Dream is accusing them of,” Japaridze, one of Lelo’s leaders, said after the hearing, Interpressnews reported at 20:23. His party had asked the court to refer the case to the European Court of Human Rights, because “there has been no precedent anywhere in the world of a ruling party bringing a case before a constitutional court seeking to dissolve five major opposition parties”, and to invite Venice Commission experts to assess the proceedings. Both requests were rejected, as was every other motion.
The accusation, by his account, has narrowed in the telling. “One representative of Georgian Dream said that we were being accused of violating Article 23. Article 23 concerns incitement to ethnic hatred. Were we engaged in inciting ethnic hatred? We were told no.” Two allegations are left, violent overthrow and territorial integrity. When Lelo asks which concerns it, the answer is “wait and see”, he said.
The ruling party’s side spent the day defending the suit’s form. Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said appealing to the court on a party’s constitutionality is a right guaranteed by the Constitution and called foreign statements made “in a threatening tone” a failure to understand democratic norms, by the agency’s headline at 13:52. Tornike Cheishvili, Ana Tsitlidze and a verbal confrontation between Archil Gorduladze and Nana Malashkhia during a break fill the rest of the agency’s day.
Two allegations are left, violent overthrow and territorial integrity.
On the other appointment of the week, Giorgi Zurabashvili as the prime minister’s special representative for relations with Russia, Irakli Kadagishvili, chairman of parliament’s self-government committee, said at 16:14: “We need to have a certain channel of communication with the Russian Federation in every situation.” There is no diplomatic or political dialogue because of the occupation, he said, but economic, humanitarian and transport issues need a working line, and the appointment was “a very positive, important and timely step”.
Day three opened on Friday morning with the agency’s headline that the hearing resumes. Neither the plenum’s schedule beyond it nor a date for a ruling is on any page read.