Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday claimed that it had turned out that the so-called stencils campaign in Georgia's capital city of Tbilisi aimed at discrediting domestic judges and judiciary was a “joint” campaign of the opposition United National Movement party and several NGOs.

In his remarks, Papuashvili noted that “it is regrettable that it seems that some money, including foreign money, is spent on discrediting Georgian judiciary”.

Papuashvili’s comments followed after the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday declined to consider the claim of Nika Gvaramia, the founder of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi channel, regarding his earlier conviction for improper commercial deals in 2015 and 2019 during his time at the helm of the Rustavi 2 TV.

"It is unfortunate that, due to a few NGOs, today foreign involvement in the judiciary is equated with an attack on the courts, moral terror against judges and moral pressure against their family members. Yesterday we even heard from the judge Chkhikvadze that his family members and one of his children were also hurt because of this”, Papuashvili said.

“If we don't respond to this today and if there is no proper response from those who encouraged this campaign, any citizen of Georgia will be next”, he noted.

Domestic non-governmental organisations Transparency International Georgia and Democracy Defenders, run by Eka Gigauri and Giorgi Mshvenieradze, and the opposition United National Movement party organised the so-called stencils campaign in the capital city of Tbilisi aimed at discrediting domestic judges and judiciary, Imedi TV reported on Monday.

imedi