For the second day in a row, Georgians demonstrated against the foreign agent law, approved by the deputies of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and this time it was not only in the capital, but also in other cities of the Caucasian country that strive to candidate status for membership of the European Union. “No to Russian law,” chanted the protesters taking advantage of the women’s march and the fact that it was a holiday to gather en masse.
The day before, police responded to the demonstration in Tbilisi with water cannons, tear gas and pepper spray, and security forces were targeted with Molotov cocktails and stones. According to the Interior Ministry, 50 police officers were injured – no matter how many civilians there were – and 66 people were arrested. Among them Zurab Japaridze, the leader of the party Girchi – More Freedom. Ombudsman Levan Ioseliani visited the detainees and said Japaridze suffered head injuries as a result of police brutality.
Violence began in parliament a day earlier. While discussing the law in a committee, several deputies got involved in a brawl, and on the same day authorities said they had arrested 36 people for breaking into the parliament building.
The cause of these tempers was a bill introduced in mid-February by a faction that left the Georgian Dream party but remains close to the parliamentary majority.
The first version requires non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and media outlets that receive at least 20% of a “foreign power’s” annual revenue to register as “agents of foreign influence” or face fines. Days later, a second version tightened the criminal framework, with prison sentences of up to five years.
Critics say it is a copy of the law that came into effect in Russia in 2012, a tool for Moscow to shut down human rights groups, media or opposition. Last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russian law violates the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular Article 11 on the right of association.
The response was swift: a statement from 400 NGOs and media groups, the United Nations office in that country, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch criticized or expressed concern about the legislative initiative. More recently, 60 NGOs and the media have announced that they will not comply with the law if it is passed.
The president, Salome Zourabichvili, who had previously announced the veto of the law – although the last word is with the deputies, in a new vote – released a video with the Statue of Liberty in the background during a visit to the US, in which of the protesters because “they represent the free Georgia that sees its future in Europe and will not let anyone steal that future”.
The Georgian Dream party in power also claims to aim for integration into the EU and NATO, which has been enshrined in the Constitution since 2017. But the ties to Moscow of former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivashnili, a billionaire seen as influential and powerful, could undermine the feeling of the party and the country.
In the most recent assessment of the European Commission in February – which granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova in June, but bypassed Georgia and recommended an anti-oligarch law – it reiterated its earlier conclusions: the country is politically polarized and the progress is slow.
Source: DN
