Georgia’s ruling party slams ‘Western silence’ over ‘coup attempt’, condemns award to convicted media manager

The ruling Georgian Dream party has expressed concern over what it described as a lack of condemnation from Western partners regarding the alleged coup attempt on October 4 organized by the “radical opposition.”

At a briefing held at the party’s central office on Friday, Giorgi Grdzelishvili, head of Georgian Dream’s communications office, said that despite the seriousness of the events, no European country - including the new US administration - has denounced the attempted overthrow of the government.

Grdzelishvili accused the European People’s Party (EPP) and the EU spokesperson of showing “political hypocrisy” instead of condemning what he called anti-constitutional acts by the opposition.

“Rather than condemning the actions of the radicals, we witnessed another example of political shamelessness,” Grdzelishvili said. “The EPP declared Georgian Dream the aggressor in the 4 October events, while the EU spokesperson accused the ruling team of spreading Russian propaganda.”

He also criticized international media organizations for granting a global press freedom award to Mzia Amaglobili, a convicted journalist serving a two-year prison sentence for violence against a police officer during pro-European protests.

“Amaglobili, who is convicted of violence, has been named a World Press Freedom Hero - an award established by the International Press Institute (IPI) in partnership with the International Media Support (IMS),” Grdzelishvili noted, calling the decision “yet another sign of double standards.”