In the last 2 years, the President has asked the government 38 times for permission to visit abroad, said the Chairman of the Georgian Dream at Salome Zourabichvili’s impeachment hearing at the Constitutional Court.

According to Irakli Kobakhidze, he would like the President to have a different attitude towards the Constitutional Court [i.e. to attend its sessions] and towards the Constitution of Georgia.

“This is not a political statement, this is my position as a lawyer, as a public official, and I am expressing this position on behalf of the 80 members of Parliament elected by the people.

It’s a very simple case – the visit required consent, she didn’t get that consent, she went anyway, so the constitution was violated.

The President herself recognized the unconstitutionality of the visits. In particular, she herself asked for permission for the visits. She thus was aware that the relevant visits required permission.

Since the visits were not financed from the budget and Salome Zourabichvili went abroad with private funds, this was a direct recognition that the visits were illegitimate and therefore she had to spend money not from the budget but from her own pocket. Otherwise, if she had spent money from the budget, in addition to violating the Constitution, this would also be a criminal offense, because according to the legislation, this is a non-targeted expenditure.

In the last two years, the President has asked the Government 38 times for permission to visit abroad. Among them, before the European Commission’s decision on Georgia’s candidate status in 2022, she held meetings in Europe with the Government’s approval, which did not bring any results. The President asked the Government for permission to attend the funeral of the Queen of Great Britain and the coronation of the King, i.e. even visits with less political content require approval, and the President is aware of this”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.