Georgian Parliament Speaker: British Ambassador violated Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, as well as Strategic Partnership Agreement

"The British Embassy seemingly fired a shot by referencing the Strategic Partnership Agreement and citing its articles, as if Georgia were violating it", said the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili.

According to him, the British Embassy shot itself in the foot once again - "If the Embassy wants to talk about legal aspects, I don’t think that’s a field where it has any advantage."

"I’ve already said once - the British Ambassador violated Article 41 of the Vienna Convention when interfering in the elections, directly against one political entity, "Georgian Dream". Just ten days before the election, the British Ambassador gave an extensive interview devoted solely to criticizing "Georgian Dream".

The entire tone of that article was a call for people to vote against "Georgian Dream". This is a violation of Article 41 of the Vienna Convention. But the British Embassy didn’t stop there - now it has moved on to the Strategic Partnership Agreement.

Not only has the Embassy violated specific articles - the British Embassy has even violated the preamble, which affirms respect for sovereignty. When the British Ambassador interfered in the elections, that was a violation of the principle of respecting sovereignty, which is laid out in the preamble of the agreement.

Likewise, the British Embassy has violated Article 4 of the same agreement, which states that the parties cooperate to strengthen the effectiveness and stability of democratic institutions. When the British Embassy funds propagandists or individuals and organizations with extremist agendas, it undermines democratic institutions and breaches Article 4.

Furthermore, the UK has violated Articles 16 and 18 of the agreement, which relate to cooperation in the fight against crime, including corruption-related crimes.

We all know that Davit Kezerashvili moves freely in the UK — we’ve seen photos of him in London cafés. Granting safe haven to someone involved in corruption and money laundering is a direct violation of Articles 16 and 18 of the agreement.

So if the British Embassy wants to talk about legal violations, I can assure you — such a dialogue and platform are damaging for them, because there are plenty of articles and conventions that the British Embassy and the British Ambassador are violating".

"The British Ambassador has violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, as well as the Strategic Partnership Agreement", said Shalva Papuashvili.