TBILISI, September 8 – Georgia’s justice system is on dangerous ground, says security analyst Andro Gotsiridze, warning that politically driven courts could destabilize the country and hand Russia exactly what it wants.
In an interview with Interpressnews, Gotsiridze commented on recent verdicts against around a dozen protesters convicted of assaulting riot police during last winter’s protests. The violation they were convicted of is called “group violence,” and judges relied heavily on police testimony, though lawyers noted videos showed no coordinated group actions.
Gotsiridze blasted the convictions and said they came without solid evidence of “group crimes” and instead showed how judges now serve political aims. “Every process shows the court listening to false testimony by public officials, police violence, and even fabricated evidence, and reacting to none of it,” he said.
The analyst sees a bigger picture: a ruling party willing to push opponents into confrontation to justify stronger authoritarian control. “Such a system directly undermines stability and poses a threat to the state,” he warned, comparing Georgia’s path to the Soviet model of “stability without justice.”
Gotsiridze also tied Georgia’s troubles to geopolitics. He argued that some parts of the report by the Tsulukiani Commission that deals with the 2008 war echo Kremlin talking points, describing the conflict as a Western-provoked clash and undermining Georgia’s Western integration. “The conclusion, where Georgia is accused of provoking war, is an enormous gift to the Kremlin,” he said.
