Day: April 3, 2024

The ruling Georgian Dream party has announced they will again attempt to pass a controversial ‘foreign agents law’ targetting civil society organisations and the media after the previous attempt last year was thwarted by massive street protests.

On Wednesday Mamuka Mdinaradze, Georgian Dream’s parliamentary leader, announced at a briefing that the law would be largely unchanged from last year’s version. He said the only difference would be that the new legislation would label organisations that receive funding from overseas ‘organisations carrying out the interests of a foreign power’ instead of ‘agents of foreign influence’.

In March 2023, thousands took to the streets in two days of protests to oppose the government’s previous draft foreign agent laws. The protests at times turned violent after police deployed tear gas, pepper spray, water cannons, and sonic weapons in an attempt to disperse them.

‘The intensive use of tear gas and water cannon can constitute torture or other ill-treatment and should be thoroughly investigated’, Struthers said. Image: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Since dropping the legislation, the ruling Georgian Dream Party has continued to escalate their rhetoric against civil society organisations, the media, and foreign donor organisations in Georgia.

This story will be updated.

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