Day: May 20, 2026

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Nearly 30,000 participants from 174 countries have joined the events of the 13th Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) during its first three days, both online and in person, according to officials from the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, AzerNEWS reports.

“Georgian Dream’s goal is to carry out political justice and intimidate the public. They want to do this systematically and preventively,” said former deputy Public Defender of Georgia Giorgi Burjanadze, commenting on reports about the creation of a special unit within the Interior Ministry to monitor “aggressive communication in the public sphere”.

Georgia to create agency to monitor ‘aggressive communication in public spaces’

At this stage, it remains unclear what criteria will be used to determine what constitutes hate speech or offensive communication.

According to Giorgi Burjanadze, the ruling Georgian Dream party has already embedded a repressive mechanism into legislation, while the newly announced unit was created to enforce it systematically.

The Georgian authorities plan to create a new special unit within the Interior Ministry. The unit will monitor and respond through legal measures to hate speech, abusive campaigns and aggressive communication in the public sphere.

Giorgi Burjanadze said:

“This continues the repressive methods they have already introduced. Authorities have already fined many people or placed them in detention over social media posts.

In other words, the government has already been doing this. Now it wants to make the practice systematic and more intimidating. They have adopted draconian laws under which they can punish you if you describe them in ways they dislike.

The main problem — the repressive mechanism — already exists. Now the question is: who will enforce it? That is why they are creating a special unit.

By establishing it, they are trying to create widespread fear. They want to show that this will be large-scale, that it will affect everyone and that they will carry it out more effectively.

This is an attempt at intimidation. It closely resembles the actions of authoritarian states, where authorities control acceptable forms of expression on social media.”

Political prisoners, repression and sanctions: debate on Georgia in European Parliament

Members of the European Parliament protested against political repression targeting opposition figures, journalists and civil society activists.

“The main goal is to continue the harm they have already started through courts under their control, make it more systematic and instil even greater fear in people.

Their aim is to carry out political justice: if they dislike someone — a hypothetical Giorgi, for example — or if that person angers them, they need to find a way to punish him.

This is an act of intimidation: the message is, ‘Do not criticise us, otherwise we will be able to reach anyone through legal means.’”

The goals of Georgia’s government

At World Urban Forum 13, Professor of Urban Politics and Development, Global Development Institute, Seth Schindler spoke about one of the least discussed but increasingly urgent challenges facing modern cities, AzerNEWS reports.

Georgia had the fourth-highest prison population rate in Europe, with 232 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Council of Europe’s newly published annual penal statistics, which cover data up to January 31, 2025.

Only Turkey (458 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants), Azerbaijan (271), and Moldova (245) recorded higher rates than Georgia in the report, which noted that the highest prison population rates remain concentrated in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region, “where systems tend to favour custodial sanctions.”

At the same time, Georgia was among six European countries – alongside Ukraine, Slovakia, Albania, Estonia, and Poland – that reported “significant decreases” (above 5%) in their incarceration rates between 2024 and 2025. According to the report, Georgia recorded an 11% year-on-year decline, the largest decrease among the listed countries.

The Council of Europe also noted that prison data from several countries, including Georgia, exclude territories not under government control, adding that “population figures used to calculate rates per 100,000 inhabitants may not fully account for these territorial exclusions, potentially affecting the accuracy of calculated rates.”

Separate figures recently released by Georgia’s National Statistics Office (Geostat) show that 22,767 people were convicted in Georgia in 2025, including 21,595 men and 1,172 women. The figure marks the highest level since 2001, when comparable data is publicly available, and is nearly 6,000 higher than in 2024, when the figure stood at 16,961. In 2023, the figure was 18,547.

According to Geostat, of all convicted persons, which include those receiving both custodial and non-custodial sentences, 50.1% received conditional sentences, 24.4% were sentenced to imprisonment, and 20.2% were fined in 2025.

Geostat data also show that Georgia had 11,153 prisoners in 2025, the highest figure since 2012, when the ruling Georgian Dream party came to power. Before that, the peak was recorded in 2011, under the United National Movement government, when the prison population stood at 24,114. In 2013, the figure dropped to 9,093.

Geostat’s data prompted a statement from the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia, which clarified on May 15 that the figure of 22,767 covers “both persons sentenced to imprisonment who are serving their sentences in penitentiary institutions, as well as persons sentenced to non-custodial punishments – who are not serving their sentences in penitentiary institutions.”

“The Criminal Code of Georgia provides for both custodial and non-custodial forms of punishment,” the service said. “Deprivation of liberty represents a form of custodial punishment, and only persons sentenced to imprisonment serve their sentences in institutions of the Special Penitentiary Service.”

According to the agency, “as of December 31, 2025, 8,702 convicted persons were serving sentences in the penitentiary system.”

This figure, however, still differs from the 11,153 cited by the National Statistics Office. According to several interpretations, Geostat’s 11,153 figure also includes individuals in pre-trial detention awaiting final judgment, while the penitentiary service’s 8,702 refers to those who have received imprisonment sentences.

Also Read:

• 18/02/2026 – CoE Committee for Prevention of Torture Publishes Report on Georgia
• 28/01/2026 – Mikheil Kavelashvili Grants 59 Pardons
• 19/01/2026 – Mikheil Kavelashvili Pardons 159 Inmates

Tsarukyan: Today, main threats to Armenia are Aliyev and Pashinyan  АрмИнфо

There is a particular brand of sanctimony that has long defined German foreign policy, like a high-minded, lecturing tone that commands the global stage while the back door remains wide open for lucrative, often compromised, deals.