Irakli Kupradze, General Secretary of the “Lelo – Strong Georgia” coalition, announced that the National Bureau of Enforcement has frozen the coalition’s official bank account.
At a special briefing, Kupradze called the action “a reckless attempt to obstruct the coalition’s political struggle,” claiming it forms part of a broader campaign of harassment against “Lelo – Strong Georgia” by the ruling party.
“For the past five days, the illegitimate ‘Georgian Dream’ government – led by the illegitimate Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, the so-called Speaker of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili, and others – has launched an absurd and politically motivated attack on our coalition and its founder Mamuka Khazaradze,” Kupradze stated.
He accused the government of engaging in “a clownish performance,” using state agencies, including the Anti-Corruption Agency and now the Ministry of Justice and the Enforcement Bureau, to create barriers to the coalition’s operations.
In his remarks, Kupradze also criticized the recent targeting of the German Ambassador by Georgian Dream, noting that the same July 1 statement calling for the ambassador’s expulsion aligns with efforts to undermine pro-Western political forces in Georgia.
Kupradze says the official notice of the account seizure was received earlier today, allegedly due to an unpaid court fee of 130 GEL related to a lawsuit filed in Gori in 2022.
“In 2022, we filed a lawsuit against the Kaspi election district. Now, they’re claiming we didn’t pay a 130-lari court fee – which we obviously did. Otherwise, the court wouldn’t have accepted the case,” he explained.
Kupradze characterized the action as politically motivated, stating: “They are inventing ridiculous mechanisms like freezing our account in a desperate attempt to silence us. But we are not intimidated. We are in a fight against a violent, Russian-aligned regime, and we will prevail – together with the citizens of Georgia.”
He concluded by emphasizing Mamuka Khazaradze’s long-standing contribution to Georgia’s economy and society, dismissing the accusations and propaganda from Georgian Dream as “laughable,” but warning the public not to be misled:
“This is not just a political stunt – it’s part of a calculated strategy to tie our hands and undermine democratic resistance in Georgia.”
