Georgian Dream MP demands opposition apology for protest campaigns

Georgian Dream lawmaker Levan Machavariani has called on opposition parties, NGOs and activists to apologise to the Georgian public over what he described as psychological pressure and intimidation during protests over the government's transparency law and Russia's war in Ukraine.

Machavariani, first deputy chair of the Georgian Dream parliamentary faction, accused opposition groups and affiliated civil society organisations of trying to impose their political agenda on citizens and intimidate those who held different views.

He said the groups owed the public an apology for what he called the "fraudulent" campaign against the transparency law, widely referred to by opponents as the "Russian law", as well as for protests held after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Machavariani said opposition groups had used what he described as "psychological terror" against citizens who refused to support their campaigns.

He argued that similar pressure had been used during demonstrations following the start of Russia's war against Ukraine, when opposition groups criticised the Georgian government for refusing to impose bilateral sanctions on Russia, send volunteers to Ukraine with official government approval or transfer Georgian weapons to Ukraine.

Machavariani said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had recalled Ukraine's ambassador from Georgia over the government's position.

He accused opposition groups of organising demonstrations in response and of insulting or labelling them as "Russian" people who did not participate.

Machavariani argued that meeting the demands for sanctions, weapons and officially supported volunteers would have automatically resulted in military confrontation with Russia.

"We refused to fulfil these demands and consequently avoided war," he said.

He accused opposition groups of organising protests precisely because the government refused to meet those demands and said they should apologise both for pressuring the government and for allegedly intimidating citizens who did not want to participate.