UNM to pursue constitutional cases against ruling party, leader says

The United National Movement (UNM) has launched a multi-stage plan to bring constitutional legal action against the ruling Georgian Dream party, a senior UNM figure announced at a press briefing on Monday.

Levan Bezhashvili, a leading member of the UNM, said the move - prompted in part by requests from the party’s international and legal partners - aimed to challenge what the UNM described as the government’s “usurpation of power” and laws that, they said, were being used to suppress opposition voices.

“At present we do not trust the Georgian Dream-controlled Constitutional Court, which has been captured and serves political orders,” Bezhashvili told reporters. “Nevertheless, at the request of our international partners and the legal community, we are initiating constitutional proceedings because this process will be decisive for later cases at the European Court of Human Rights.”

He said the UNM will file complaints in several stages. The first challenge submitted to court contested the findings of what he called “Tsulukiani’s so-called investigative commission” - referred to by the UNM as the “treason commission” - accusing it of producing a document made up of unrelated articles that distorts recent Georgian history and targets the UNM.

A second stage will challenge the laws by which, the UNM said, Georgian Dream seeks to dissolve political parties and further erode democratic norms. The third stage will be a direct constitutional suit against Georgian Dream itself.

Bezhashvili acknowledged internal debate within the UNM about the timing of litigation but said advice from international and legal partners supported proceeding now with arguments intended to be influential before the European Court.

“Georgian Dream has created a Russian-style regime in the country,” he said, adding that resisting it will require action at every level.