The European Parliament adopted on October 9 a resolution entitled “On democratic backsliding in Georgia and threats to its political pluralism” with 495 votes for, 73 against and 86 abstentions. The resolution, among other things, calls for a freezing of EU funds for the Georgian Government until it repeals anti-democratic laws, sanctions against BidzinaIvanishvili and an assessment of Georgia’s compliance with visa liberalization benchmarks. It also calls for “strict restrictions on any future funding provided to the Georgian government.”
Speaker Shalva Papuashvili condemned the European Parliament resolution before it was adopted, calling it “outrageous,”‘shameful’ and ‘disgusting. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, however, denounced it after it had been passed, describing it to be inspired by the Global War Party. “The unfair spirit is undeniable… An unfair document will be as ineffective for us as the previous three Resolutions,” said Prime Minister Kobakhidze.
Peter Stano, the EU’s Lead Spokesperson for Foreign and Security Policy, responded to Formula TV by urging Georgian leaders to avoid “any form of harsh rhetoric and misinformation” against Pawel Herczynski as EU Ambassador to Georgia. Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of Parliament, called the EU Ambassador’s comments about the ruling party’s banners “hypocritical” and evidence of “interference with the electoral process.”
The Constitutional Court announced on October 9 that it would accept certain appeals against the Foreign Agents Law for substantive consideration, but refused to grant petitioners’ requests to suspend the validity disputed norms until the final decision in the case. The Court determined that the petitioners had not provided enough evidence that the organizations that will continue to work as ‘foreign agent’ will suffer substantial reputational damages before the Court makes a decision.
The Communications Commission has upheld the complaint of Georgian Dream, and recognized opposition-leaning Mtavari TV TV Pirveli and Formula TV as violators of Georgia’s Electoral Code, issuing a protocol of administrative violation. ComCom received a complaint that these channels had not broadcast GD’s advertisements showing the devastation caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine on one hand and similar locations in ‘peaceful’ Georgia on the opposite. The slogan is: “Say no war – choose peace.”
Georgian watchdogs have called on the Special Investigation Service, which is mandated by law to investigate violent crimes committed against public officials, to release information about the cases it has investigated in relation to the crackdown of anti-foreign agents rallies that took place in April and may 2024. The statement states that despite calls from CSOs and the Public Defender to the SIS for it to investigate the cases mentioned, as of October 9th, 2024 neither the SIS or the Prosecutor’s Office reported the identification of potential perpetrators in these cases.
The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF), in a survey, assessed the impact of Foreign Agents Law in the country‘s Civil Society sector. It found that 70% of CSOs surveyed had already been affected in different ways by the law. This was reflected by organizations and their employees being subjected online threats and harassment.
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