Day: September 24, 2024
The Anti-Corruption Bureau demanded financial statements from several CSOs and their managers, qualifying them as “political actors” with declared election-related goals. Transparency International Georgia, a local watchdog, and Vote for Europe, a public movement, are particularly concerned.
“Transparency International – Georgia, its Executive Director, Eka Gigauri, as well as the organization Vote for Europe, its Director Khatuna Lagazidze and co-founders […] shall be considered subjects with a declared electoral aim,” Razhden Kuprashvili, the head of the Bureau, said at the briefing on September 24, clarifying that this means that these organizations and individuals will become subjects to the Georgian Law on Political Associations of Citizens, which applies to the political parties and thus shall be monitored by the Anti-Corruption Bureau. This decision is based on a recent ruling by the Tbilisi City Court, upheld on appeal, that qualified Vote for Europe as a political actor.
Kuprashvili gave TI-Georgia and Vote for Europe five days to submit financial statements to the Bureau and “disclose and submit information about the bank accounts used for their election-related income and expenses,” saying that failure to do so would result in fines.
Opponents argue that the ruling party has instrumentalized the Courts and intends to exert pressure on civic movements through additional controls through the Anti-Corruption Bureau, even though these organizations and their representatives are not political parties and do not stand for elections. The Head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau is personally appointed by the Prime Minister.
Transparency International Georgia and its manager, Eka Gigauri, have long been targeted by the ruling party for vocal criticism of the government’s policies. Vote for Europe, a civic movement launched on July 11 by President Salome Zurabishvili, unites CSOs working to mobilize pro-Western voters for the upcoming elections, though it does not endorse any particular political party.
Justification by the Anti-Corruption Bureau
The Law on Political Associations of Citizens says (Article 7 bis) that political associations should have a “declared electoral objective” defined as “a factual circumstance which clarifies the intent of a specific individual to come to power through elections. Such an intention should be made publicly and aim at forming public opinion.”
Razhden Kuprashvili argued the two organizations are “actively involved in the pre-election campaign aimed at supporting concrete political parties as well as calling for refraining from supporting concrete political parties” and are fundraising, meeting with the population for supposedly political reasons and creating social media groups “that serve to shape the concrete political mood of society.” He also said these organizations hold concerts in the regions and produce and distribute political videos “worth more than 100,000 GEL.” “These resources are used to create a concrete mood among the population and to shape its opinion in the pre-election period,” Kuprashvili emphasized, adding that, therefore, these organizations and their leaders have “declared” political goals.
The Bureau has published the texts of two separate legal decision of Kuprashvili on cases of TI-Georgia and Vote for Europe.
In the case of TI-Georgia, the document lists the creation of the Facebook page “Vote for European Union” and its portrayal of the upcoming elections as a referendum for or against the European choice, as well as Gigauri’s testimony at the U.S. Senate, as relevant to the context of the decision since they echo the statements made by the opposition party leaders.
In the case of Vote for Europe, the statements made during the presentation of this movement are cited. These speak about the mission of bringing out the voters “to vote for the European choice.” The co-creation of the relevant social media platform, campaigns, and public statements to this effect are also said to be “clearly political in substance.”
Recalling the ruling by the Appeals Court of September 17, 2024, that Article 7 bis in the Law on Political Associations of Citizens shall be “understood in a logical context, systemically and not word-by-word,” the Bureau argues that the statements made by TI-Georgia are against a particular political party (the ruling Georgian Dream) and shape public opinion in favor of the opposition. Thus, this organization shall be treated as having “declared political objectives.”
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