Lawyer: Ivanishvili calm over EP’s call to impose sanctions on him, but he won’t accept injustice

The founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, “is calm” over recent calls in the European Parliament resolution to impose sanctions on him. However, he will not accept injustice, Ivanishvili’s lawyer Viktor Kipiani told Imedi TV on Thursday.

 

The EP resolution on June 9 said that Ivanishvili had a “destructive role” on Georgia’s political and economic development and pointed at his links with Russia.

 

Kipiani suggested that those “who are trying to exert pressure on Ivanishvili,” and the authors of the resolution “had made a mistake in evaluating Ivanishvili’s personality.”

 

“Ivanishvili’s style and approach to work is to maintain maximum calm. This calmness comes over our team as well, to approach any case academically, diligently and argumentatively,” Kipiani said.

 

The ruling party authorities have dubbed the resolution as a “result of fakes,” praising the role of Ivanishvili in the democratic development of the country.

 

Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition defeated the nine-year-rule of the United National Movement back in 2012.

 

The tycoon had to return and leave politics twice since then.

 

The opposition describes Ivanishvili as a “real ruler of the country,” accusing him of pursuing pro-Russian policy.

 

For its turn, the Georgian Dream authorities claim that Ivanishvili does not interfere in the government’s work,  and that the country signed key agreements, the Association Agreement and the visa free travel deal with the EU under their leadership.

 

The ruling party MPs have accused the opposition of hampering the Georgia’s  EU integration process through the recent resolution and other moves.