Over the past two days, the Tbilisi City Court has sentenced four opposition figures, which has led to a storm of criticism from the West. Among others, condemnation was expressed by the Minister of State and the Member of Parliament of the UK, the Speaker of the European Commission and the Vice-President of PACE. The US State Department, in turn, expressed deep concern about the events in Georgia. In Washington, they stated that the country's government is using new amendments to the law against its opponents, thereby restricting freedom of expression.
"We are deeply concerned about the continuation and intensification of anti-democratic actions in Georgia, including the arrest of representatives of the political opposition and the targeted prosecution of individuals who criticize the actions of the government, including civil society.
We are seriously concerned that Georgia is selectively using recently adopted legislation, including amendments to the Law on Grants, against actual or perceived critics of the Georgian government, thereby unreasonably restricting freedom of expression and the functioning of civil society.
As Vice President Vance said in Munich, you cannot win a democratic mandate by censoring your opponents or putting them in jail, and you cannot win by ignoring your core constituency on issues like who should be part of our shared society,” the department said.
Recall that four leaders of the Georgian opposition received prison terms for refusing to testify before the temporary investigative commission of parliament. These are Zurab Girchi Japaridze (Coalition for Change, Girchi – More Freedom party), Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze (Strong Georgia coalition, Lelo party), and Giorgi Vashadze (Strategy Agmashenebeli). All of them received 7 to 8 months in prison. The maximum penalty for “failure to comply with the legal demands of the temporary investigative commission of parliament” (Article 349 of the Criminal Code of Georgia) is imprisonment for up to one year.
In addition, in the coming days, sentences are expected under this article and for other "unwanted" politicians. It is noteworthy that almost none of the opposition representatives agreed to cooperate with the investigative body. Thus, almost all the main opponents of the ruling party will remain without leaders at least until the end of the year. In particular, the leaders of the "Coalition for Change" Nika Gvaramia and Nika Melia, as well as former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, are awaiting the court's verdict in the preliminary conclusion.
