Month: July 2025

The British Foreign Office summoned the Georgian chargé d’affaires on June 30 to protest what it called the Georgian Dream government’s crackdown on civil society, independent media, and political opposition, warning of potential further action if democratic standards are not upheld.

George Saganelidze is currently serving as chargé d’affaires, according to Georgia’s Foreign Ministry.

During the meeting, “a senior official made clear the UK’s firm position to their country’s increasingly harmful trajectory and strongly objected to false claims and public attacks launched by Georgian Dream against the UK and international partners,” the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement.

“The imprisonment of prominent opposition leaders is the latest attempt by the Georgian government to crack down on freedoms and stifle dissent,” a Foreign Office spokesperson said. “The detention of election rivals is incompatible with any remaining Euro-Atlantic aspirations held by Georgian Dream as well as their own constitutional commitments,” the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson further warned that the British government “will not hesitate to consider further action should Georgia not return to respecting and upholding democracy, freedoms, and human rights.”

Five opposition leaders in Georgia have recently been sentenced to months in prison over their refusal to appear before an investigative commission in the Georgian Dream-led parliament, which they do not recognize as legitimate. Another opposition leader, currently in pre-trial custody on similar charges, is awaiting a ruling today, July 1.

Since December 2024, the United Kingdom has sanctioned senior Interior Ministry officials — including now-former GD Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri — amid violent crackdowns on protests; senior judges over “serious corruption” allegations; and other high-level officials, including Prosecutor General Giorgi Gabitashvili, who also recently left his post.

The report of summoning the Georgian chargé d’affaires comes days after the meeting between Georgian Dream Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili and Gareth Ward, UK Ambassador to Georgia. Georgian MFA reported that during the meeting, Bochorishvili brought up recent statements and actions by the British executive and legislative branches, including sanctions, which she pointed out “cast a shadow over the strategic partnership and friendship” between the two countries.

Also Read:

• 18/06/2025 – British Embassy Rejects GD’s Accusations of Funding ‘Propaganda and Extremism,’ Urges Invitation of ODIHR Observers
• 11/06/2025 – British Embassy Cancels Planned Grants Citing “Uncertainty” Over New Law

Tbilisi City Court Judge Jvebe Nachkebia on July 1 sentenced Nika Gvaramia, leader of the opposition Ahali party, to eight months in prison for refusing to appear before the Tsulukiani Commission – the Georgian Dream parliament’s temporary investigative body, chaired by GD veteran Tea Tsulukiani and tasked with probing the alleged crimes committed by former officials.

Nika Gvaramia has thus become the seventh person – and sixth opposition figure – sentenced to prison for defying the GD commission’s summonses, following Nika Melia, Givi Targamadze, Giorgi Vashadze, Mamuka Khazaradze, Badri Japaradze, and Zurab Japaridze. Former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili remains in pretrial detention, anticipating a similar verdict.

All who have received prison sentences have also had their right to hold office stripped for two years.

• Opposition Politicians Jailed – International Reactions

Gvaramia, who has been in pretrial detention since June 16 after refusing to pay court-imposed bail, did not attend today’s ruling, following others’ examples from recent weeks.

The ruling was delivered without media coverage, as new legislative changes passed last week by the GD parliament – banning journalists from filming, photographing, or live broadcasting from court premises without prior consent – have come into force.

Nika Gvaramia served as Deputy Prosecutor General, Justice Minister, and Education Minister between 2007 and 2009 under the UNM government. From 2012 to 2019, he was director of the opposition-leaning Rustavi 2 channel. In 2022, Gvaramia was imprisoned after being found guilty of abuse of power related to Rustavi 2 management, but in June 2023, President Salome Zurabishvili pardoned him.

After his release, Gvaramia entered politics in early 2024, co-founding the Ahali party with Nika Melia. The Ahali-led Coalition for Change won the majority of opposition votes in the 2024 parliamentary elections, which the opposition claims were rigged. The coalition then revoked their mandates, has boycotted the GD parliament since, and now strongly opposes participating in the local elections scheduled for October 2025.

Tsulukiani Commission

The Georgian Dream parliament’s temporary investigative commission, chaired by GD veteran and former Justice and Culture Minister Tea Tsulukiani, was initially formed to probe alleged misconduct under the UNM government. Over time, however, it extended its scope to the present day, summoning GD critics, including some who had never been with the UNM.

The opposition has refused to appear before the commission, refusing to cooperate with the one-party parliament they consider illegitimate.

Former GD Interior Minister and Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, now the leader of the opposition For Georgia party, was the only exception who agreed to testify, while maintaining that his appearance did not amount to legitimizing the rump parliament, which his party has also been boycotting.

Giorgi Gakharia has been resummoned by the commission over the Chorchana episode, which the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating as “sabotage.” Currently in Germany, Gakharia offered to testify remotely, to which the Tsulukiani Commission ultimately agreed. The session is scheduled for July 2. Gakharia’s party member said his return to Georgia remains undecided due to “many factors.”

Alongside Gakharia, other opposition figures – Nika Gvaramia, Mamuka Khazaradze, and Giorgi Vashadze – were also summoned again, with their testimonies meant to be heard online from prison on June 30. However, they again defied the summonses and did not appear. The commission asked the Prosecutor’s Office to open investigations into their renewed defiance.

Non-compliance with the Georgian Parliament’s temporary investigative commission is a criminal offense, punishable by a fine or up to one year in prison, alongside a ban on holding public office for up to three years. However, the court has not fined anyone and opted for prison sentences.

The commission has addressed topics such as alleged human rights abuses, including in prisons and the alleged business racketeering under the UNM rule, as well as the August 2008 war, which it blames on the former administration and imprisoned ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili. It is also looking into activities from 2012 to 2025 that it claims undermined Georgia’s foreign policy interests.

On June 25, the GD parliament once again extended the commission’s mandate until August 5. Tsulukiani, addressing the GD MPs at the plenary session, said the final report of the commission will be “the gravest” in its assessments.

Georgian Dream says that the commission’s final report will be submitted to the country’s Constitutional Court to ban the UNM and its “successor parties.”

Also Read:

• Liveblog: Resistance
• 21/05/2025 – GYLA: Rejection to Appear Before GD Commission Cannot Be Qualified as Criminal Offense

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Rock Hill offers scenic riverfront views along the Catawba River and is home to numerous nature trails, restaurants, and thirty-one parks which are used for both national and local events. Its historic downtown consist of twelve contiguous buildings built as early as 1840 offering dining and retail options.

Journalists with cameras were no longer allowed on the premises of the Tbilisi City Court on June 30, as new rules restricting photo, video, and audio recording, as well as live broadcasting from courtyards and courtrooms, took effect.

The legislative amendments, which the Georgian Dream parliament rushed through last week, allow only courts or court-authorized individuals to make video, photo, or audio recordings. For such recordings, as well as for live broadcasting, the media must obtain consent from the High Council of Justice, the supreme judicial oversight body.

“Leave the equipment out […] the law has already been enacted,” a bailiff is seen in a video by RFE/RL Georgian Service telling Mindia Gabadze, a photographer from the online outlet Publika, at the entrance to the Tbilisi City Court yard, turning him away.

Other TV crews and media workers with recording equipment were also kept outside the courtyard. “With cameras, they are not allowed into the courthouse or even near it in the yard,” Salome Chaduneli, a reporter for RFE/RL Georgian Service, wrote in a live blog that she organized in the comment section of the outlet’s Facebook post to cover a hearing of eleven protesters detained on group violence charges.

“Upon entering the courtroom, I was prohibited from taking my phone out of my bag to make an audio recording,” Chaduneli said. “The computer is the only device I can use to write about the main stories of court proceedings and then publish them here in the blog.”

Gabadze and Chaduneli are among the reporters who have extensively covered the court trials of detained protesters. The legislative amendments, which stripped them and their colleagues of recording rights in court and limited them to reporting only with words, were adopted as pretrial proceedings for dozens of protesters enter the closing phase, with final verdicts expected in July and August.

The trials of those whom many see as political prisoners have drawn high public interest, and videos from hearings – from defense arguments to witness testimonies – have widely circulated in traditional and social media. The hearing often took place amid tensions.

“We cannot take photos of police officer witnesses, so we cannot remember their faces,” Chaduneli wrote on Facebook. Witnesses have often been accused of giving false testimony. “…let alone the detainees, their families, and [the inability to capture] their nonverbal communication,” she added.

“We cannot capture their testimonies, their form of communication, their gestures, their style of speaking, the manner of their address [to the court,] the exchanges between lawyers and witnesses, the statements of the defendants, or the judges’ decisions,” she further said.

The reporter noted that journalists cannot follow witnesses to question them, cannot record audio to double-check their reporting, or capture any possible brawls in court. “This week, final rulings will be announced in at least two cases. We will not be able to film them,” she said.

“Their propaganda failed. They couldn’t achieve what they had in mind, so they decided to simply erase the information,” Publika quoted actor Andro Chichinadze, one of 11 detainees who may face four to six years in prison on group violence charges. 

While the uncertainty over the rules has made work in the courts difficult for the critical broadcasters, there was no mention of the new restrictions and hurdles in the coverage of the pro-government channels and the Georgian Public Broadcaster, Mediachecker, a media monitoring group, observed.

Journalists were told by the Tbilisi City Court press service that the court was no longer authorized to grant media permission for recording, as that authority now rests with the High Council of Justice. Publica reported that journalists had contacted the HCoJ in advance to obtain consent but received no response.

They were also not allowed inside the HCoJ building later when they arrived to seek answers about how court coverage would proceed. Instead, HCoJ later issued a draft ruling instructing court bailiffs to ensure the “due execution” of the new reporting and broadcasting restrictions in courts.

Also Read:

• 03/06/2025 – Georgian Dream Targets Critical Broadcasters for Questioning Government Legitimacy
• 02/05/2025 – Georgia Falls 11 Places to 114th in RSF Press Freedom Index
• 12/03/2025 – Initiated Amendments to Law on Broadcasting Threaten Freedom of Media and Expression, SJC Warns

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