Six NGOs: Anti-Corruption Bureau threatens us under ‘foreign agents’ law
Six Georgian NGOs have announced they received another letter on August 11 from the Anti-Corruption Bureau, accusing them of violating the so-called “foreign agents” registration law.
“They also threaten us with criminal liability and demand an explanation for why we have not registered as agents,” the statement reads.
The six organizations — Civil Society Foundation, Sapari, Transparency International – Georgia, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Social Justice Center, and Media Development Foundation (MDF) — reiterate their public stance that they will not register as carrying out the interests of a foreign country.
“We are independent Georgian non-governmental organizations operating under our own statutes. Our mission is to protect the rights of women, children, workers, people with disabilities, IDPs, and all oppressed people; our mission is to observe elections, expose corruption and disinformation, defend democracy, and help the Georgian people. We serve only the interests of our people and Georgia. Under the American FARA standard, which this law is supposedly based on, we are not required to register in this registry. We will send the relevant legal documents to the Ivanishvili-Kuprashvili bureau regarding this,” the statement says.
“In the style of Putin’s Russia, the persecution of independent NGOs and free media aims to end democracy. But we will continue our work and will not leave the Georgian people without support. We will fight until Georgia becomes the free, democratic, and EU member state that the Georgian people deserve,” the NGOs state, adding, “We once again declare that we will not live by Russian laws and will continue to fight to protect the rights of the Georgian people.”
On June 18, a number of NGOs released a statement noting that the “Ivanishvili-Kuprashvili bureau has started enforcing unconstitutional Russian laws through the Murusidze court.” The agency had demanded that NGOs provide the personal data of the citizens they assist.
Prime Minister Kobakhidze: Traitorous Agent Saakashvili Started the 2008 War
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has once again accused Georgia’s previous government of starting the 2008 war with Russia.
“Who started the war is documented in the relevant documents, where the UNM also confirmed everything with their vote. These are the Council of Europe resolution, the Tagliavini report, and Mikheil Saakashvili’s decree — all three documents state that the war was, in reality, started by the Saakashvili regime. Until 2018, representatives of this party did not even dare to talk about the fact that they did not start the war. In 2018, however, Salome Zurabishvili made a statement that the war was started by the then-Georgian government, and this gave the UNM a kind of pretext to argue the opposite… When Zurabishvili made this statement, it was difficult for us to defend her… At that time, we had problems within the team. In 2018, there were ‘deep state’ agents in Georgian Dream. At that time, more than 10 deputies were embedded in our team,” Kobakhidze said.
“Georgian Dream” has for years blamed Georgia for starting the war with Russia, and its main propaganda message is that if they lose power, it will be followed by a new war with Russia.
In reality, all international organizations have recognized Russia as the aggressor.
On April 28, 2023, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered the Russian Federation to pay up to 130 million euros in compensation for moral damages to Georgian citizens in the case of its invasion of the country in August 2008.
Court Keeps Political Prisoner Nino Datashvili in Custody
Judge Lela Kalichenko has again kept teacher and activist Nino Datashvili in custody.
“Don’t worry, prison is not scary, losing the country is scary. I will prove my truth,” Datashvili said in court after the decision was announced.
The judge also announced that the case has been transferred to Tbilisi City Court for substantive review and that the next hearing will be held on August 21. During today’s court session, the defense filed motions to recuse the court and the prosecutor, but the judge did not grant the motions.
Representatives from the embassies of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and UK attended the court session. The organization Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) announced on August 2 that the court had authorized Nino Datashvili’s involuntary transfer to a psychiatric facility.
On June 21, the court sentenced Nino Datashvili to pretrial detention. She was arrested on charges of assaulting a court bailiff while on duty. The corresponding article of the Criminal Code provides for imprisonment for a term of 4 to 7 years.