Speaker Papuashvili accuses EU Ambassador of supporting ‘violent activist’ linked to street protests

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has accused the EU Ambassador to Georgia of corresponding with a man he described as one of the organizers of last year’s “violent” protests against the Government's decision to delay the country’s EU integration, claiming that the diplomat had written a letter of support to him while he was in prison.

In a statement on social media on Wednesday, Papuashvili said that a video now public and part of a criminal case shows Zviad Tsetskhladze, “an activist involved in organizing street violence, cold-bloodedly planning street warfare.”

“The video clearly shows Tsetskhladze, who, as it turns out, has been corresponding with the EU ambassador, planning a street war - saying ‘let’s remember Maidan,’ ‘we’ve made shields,’ ‘let’s build barricades,’ ‘stretch barbed wire,’ ‘scatter nails,’ and ‘buy pyrotechnics,’” Papuashvili wrote.

He argued that the EU’s approach toward Georgia had long shown an “anti-Georgian” tendency that, in his words, has now reached the point of “supporting terrorists.”

“It was clear long ago that the anti-Georgian path chosen by Brussels would lead to supporting terrorists. Some diplomats build bridges, but it turns out some build walls for the Georgian people and bridges for violent radicals,” Papuashvili said.

The parliament speaker’s comments follow revelations in Georgian media that the EU ambassador had sent a letter to Tsetskhladze after his arrest, reportedly expressing concern about his case.