On Thursday, the Lithuanian parliament Seimas adopted a resolution condemning the violence against protesters in Georgia and stating that the October parliamentary elections in the country were unfair.
“The Seimas states that [...] the Georgian parliamentary elections [...] did not comply with international standards for democratic elections, and were neither free nor fair, and therefore supports the European Parliament’s call for new parliamentary elections in Georgia,” the resolution reads.
The resolution was adopted with 109 votes in favour and only MP Valius Ąžuolas of the Farmers and Greens Union voting against.
“[The Seimas] strongly condemns the Georgian government’s violence against peaceful protesters in Tbilisi and other parts of the country, the intimidation of representatives of civil society and the media, and the unlawful detention of protesters,” the document says.
The resolution calls on the European Union and its member states to impose sanctions on Georgian officials and political leaders who are directly or indirectly responsible for the violent crackdown on civilians.
It emphasises that ensuring fundamental rights is a key criterion for EU visa liberalisation and calls on the bloc’s bodies to review Georgia’s visa-free regime status
The document also urges the Georgian authorities to repeal the so-called foreign agents’ law, guarantee the citizens’ right to assemble and refrain from the unjustified use of force against them.
Seimas was due to vote on a similar resolution on Tuesday, but a recess was requested. Giedrimas Jeglinskas, chairman of the Seimas Committee on National Security and Defence, said that the document was drafted in haste.
Protests erupted in Georgia last Thursday after the country’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that his government was postponing EU accession talks until 2028.
For the past six nights, riot police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse demonstrators, who in turn threw pyrotechnics at the police and set up barricades on the central avenue of Tbilisi.
Following the violent suppression of protests, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia banned 11 Georgian politicians, including the billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, from entering the countries.
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