MP Gorduladze: parties allied with UNM share responsibility for its past actions

Parties that form coalitions with the United National Movement (UNM) without clearly distancing themselves from its past record also assume responsibility for actions committed by the party, Georgian ruling party MP Archil Gorduladze has said.

Speaking at a Constitutional Court hearing on a case concerning the possible banning of opposition parties on Wednesday, Gorduladze argued that political groups must explicitly condemn human rights violations committed between 2004 and 2012 if they are to distance themselves from the UNM. He said forming a coalition with the party without doing so would contradict the principles of defensive democracy and the rule of law.

“If a party does not clearly distance itself from these events and nevertheless forms a coalition with such a party, it assumes responsibility for the actions committed by that party, including the United National Movement,” Gorduladze said.

He also accused representatives and senior decision-makers from certain political parties of justifying the killing and torture of a person described by them as a spy, despite, according to Gorduladze, no investigative findings having established that the individual was guilty.

Gorduladze said such statements and actions encouraged extremism, bullying and violations of human dignity. He further argued that they posed a risk of a violent change of government and the overthrow of the constitutional order if law enforcement institutions were not strong enough to prevent it.