Former MP, victim of UNM Gov’t, slams Georgian Dream for inaction on property restitution

Former MP Valeri Gelashvili, who was once a high-profile victim of political persecution under Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM) government, has publicly accused the current ruling party, Georgian Dream, of failing to resolve his long-standing property disputes.

The remarks came during an exchange at a session of the Temporary Investigative Commission in Parliament, chaired by Vice Speaker Thea Tsulukiani, probing alleged crimes under the UNM between 2003-2012. As he was leaving the session following his testimony, Gelashvili placed a set of documents on the table and voiced his dissatisfaction.

“Thank you for your attention, Mrs. Thea, but I did not deserve this,” Gelashvili said, referring to unresolved complaints he filed under the Georgian Dream government, seeking restitution of property he claimed was confiscated during the UNM administration.

“If our government had returned the property taken from me because of Saakashvili’s fine, I wouldn’t have received another fine,” he added. “What did I fight for in 2012?”

Tsulukiani, a former justice minister, responded by asking for clarification. “What is this? Go ahead, Mr. Valeri. We were talking peacefully here,” she said, prompting Gelashvili to explain that his complaints to the Prosecutor’s Office had remained unresolved for years.

He argued that despite filing his case under the current government, justice had still not been served. When asked whether he had formally appealed the matter, Gelashvili responded: “Should I sue my own government?”

Tsulukiani defended the administration’s record, noting that Gelashvili had already won two court rulings in the case and had had a significant portion of his financial penalty lifted. “This government halved the fine for you- two million [lari] was forgiven. You’ve won the first and second instances in court. Would that have happened under Saakashvili? No,” she said. “So thank Bidzina Ivanishvili [the founder and honorary chair of the GD] that we’re even alive.”

Gelashvili countered that Saakashvili was “a thing of the past,” but Tsulukiani insisted his influence remained. “There is no history that has gone. Saakashvili is trying to come back. That’s what we’re working to prevent,” she said, while also referencing Georgia’s strained relations with the EU. “I don’t know how it looks from Vilnius - which today sanctions us and places us under pressure - but we didn’t deserve that either,” she added, in an apparent reference to Gelashvili’s dual citizenship in Lithuania.

Concluding the session, Tsulukiani credited the Georgian Dream government and Prosecutor’s Office for previously reopening and resolving the 2005 physical assault case against Gelashvili, which had occurred during the UNM era.

“If it weren’t for this government, the facts in your case would never have been established,” she said. “So thank the Prosecutor’s Office, and I hope your remaining legal procedures conclude successfully.”

The hearing ended with Tsulukiani asserting the commission’s authority: “Here, the commission decides who and when will leave the hall.”