Experts see political context in bill on Georgian citizens' involvement in warfare abroad

The bill on criminal responsibility for involvement of citizens of Georgia in hostilities outside their state is politically motivated. This opinion was expressed by Georgian experts during the "round table", which was held on February 4 at the Tbilisi international press centre of the RIA "Novosti".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has submitted to the Parliament a bill on criminal responsibility for involvement of citizens of Georgia in illegal armed formations (IAFs) in territories of foreign countries. Meanwhile, the bill exempts from criminal responsibility the Georgian citizens who take part in the hostilities in Ukraine on the side of the Ukrainian authorities.

The amendments to the Criminal Code of Georgia should not affect those citizens of Georgia who are fighting on the side of the Ukrainian authorities and who are thus members of operating legitimate armed forces. This was stated by Nika Chitadze, the President of the "Georgian International Security Research Centre".

"Many of them believe that the restoration and preservation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine will also positively affect the national interests of Georgia, since it also faces a problem of its territorial integrity," Nika Chitadze has noted.

In turn, Nana Devdariani, the head of the "Centre for Global Studies", has stated that the citizens of Georgia who are fighting in Ukraine on the side of the Ukrainian authorities do not protect Georgian national interests, and it is appropriate to exclude any involvement of Georgian citizens in military conflicts outside the territory of the country.

Nana Devdariani has added that Georgia as a state is not involved in the confrontation in Ukraine. "And that is a reasonable attitude, since we face a lot of our own problems. However, it turns out that after all, we indirectly support one of the parties to the conflict, since the amendment will criminalize the participation of Georgian citizens in the hostilities on the side of the rebels," Nana Devdariani has emphasized.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.