Background
Against a background of intense public protests, the ruling Georgian Dream party pushed through a number of legislative initiatives that restricted human rights and undermined both civil society and the independence of the judiciary and state institutions. This led the EU in May to suspend Georgia’s accession process. Georgian Dream’s victory in the October parliamentary elections – accompanied by widespread reports of voter fraud and intimidation – was widely disputed and provoked ongoing protests and international criticism. Further protests erupted in November and December after the government announced that it in turn would suspend EU membership negotiations.
Freedom of association
In May, parliament enacted the Transparency of Foreign Influence law, which obliged organizations receiving over 20% foreign funding to declare themselves as agents of foreign influence, and comply with onerous and intrusive reporting and oversight requirements. The law was then used to stigmatize and discredit organizations critical of the government. It was deemed by the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission to violate the rights to freedom of expression, association and privacy, and the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination.
On 9 October, the Constitutional Court accepted a submission to review the law but refused to suspend it pending its decision.
Freedom of expression
Dissenting voices, including opponents of the Transparency of Foreign Influence law and pro-EU protesters, faced harassment, smear campaigns and violence. Over a dozen activists, many of whom participated in protests, were violently attacked, ambushed and injured by unidentified assailants, often resulting in serious injuries requiring hospitalization. Some of these assaults appeared to be coordinated, condoned and encouraged or instigated by authorities.
On 11 June, activist Zuka Berdzenishvili was severely beaten near his home hours after the parliamentary speaker publicly accused him of participating in a politically motivated campaign against the ruling party.
By the end of the year none of these incidents had been effectively investigated.
Legislation adopted in December enabled the government to restructure public institutions and dismiss public servants for arbitrary and political motives. By year’s end, over 100 public servants who had publicly expressed solidarity with the protests were reportedly arbitrarily dismissed from their jobs.
Freedom of peaceful assembly
Protests were widespread, particularly against the Transparency of Foreign Influence Bill in April and May, the disputed election results in October and the suspension of the EU accession process in November.
Police used unlawful force to disperse largely peaceful protesters, including targeting them with chemical irritants and water cannons, at close range and without warning, beating, injuring and detaining hundreds.1
Police also pursued protesters outside of demonstrations, conducting searches and arrests in their homes and offices. During the November-December protests alone, some 500 protesters were reportedly detained.
Police also targeted journalists covering the crackdowns. During the November-December protests, over 50 journalists were reportedly injured and subjected to degrading and humiliating treatment as well as having their equipment destroyed by the police and being otherwise prevented from carrying out their professional activities.
On 3 May a group of plain-clothes men drove into a crowd of protesters in the capital, Tbilisi, then surrounded and assaulted some of the demonstrators. On several occasions in December, protesters and journalists were threatened and assaulted by groups of unidentified masked individuals while police stood by. None of these incidents was effectively investigated and no police officers or masked persons committing violence were identified or held accountable.
New legislation effective from 30 December imposed further arbitrary restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, introducing hefty fines for putting up protest slogans or posters, wearing face coverings and allowing minors to take part in protests. It also granted police the power to detain individuals “preventatively” for up to 48 hours, on suspicion of potentially committing an offence.
Torture and other ill-treatment
During the April-May protests, over 100 people reported ill-treatment, including physical and verbal abuse, by law enforcement officers during arrest and in detention. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment were especially widespread during the November-December protests, with more than 300 protesters – the majority of those detained – alleging mistreatment and more than 80 people said to have been hospitalized with serious injuries.2
Detained protesters were as a rule taken to undisclosed locations, including outside Tbilisi, denied contact with family and lawyers and detained for 24 to 48 hours without a reasonable justification as required by national law. In several instances, the injured detainees were denied medical treatment and emergency surgery.
On 14 May, police officers filmed themselves beating and throttling peaceful protester Davit Katsarava. He was hospitalized with severe concussion and facial bone fractures. On 24 July, Davit Katsarava was fined 2,000 Lari (US$720) for allegedly disobeying the police. An investigation into his torture allegations, however, had produced no results by year’s end.
Unfair trials
In hundreds of unfair hearings that followed the April-May and November-December protests, courts imposed administrative penalties on anti-government protesters for alleged offences including petty hooliganism and disobeying the police.
More than 50 protesters were prosecuted on bogus protest-related charges, including for alleged obstruction of strategic facilities, group violence, criminal damage and disrupting public order. Some reported being coerced into signing forced confessions, without legal representation. Most of the trials were pending at year’s end.
Omar Okribashvili and Saba Meparishvili were arrested on 14 May for damaging temporary police-installed barriers, and charged with crimes punishable by three to six years’ imprisonment.
Right to a healthy environment
In August, a court granted injunctions against demonstrations begun in March by residents of Shukruti in the Chiatura region. The residents accused a mining company of damaging their homes and farmland through manganese extraction and failing to provide them with adequate compensation. By September, several demonstrators had relocated to Tbilisi, staging hunger strikes outside parliament, demanding government intervention and an independent damage assessment. The negotiations between the protesters and the company, mediated by the government, yielded no meaningful outcome.
LGBTI people’s rights
On 17 September, parliament approved a law on “family values and the protection of minors”, which contained numerous homophobic and transphobic measures. These included a ban on sharing information or holding public gatherings that were deemed to promote same-sex relationships. The following day, a well-known trans woman was killed in her home. LGBTI rights campaigners raised concerns that the new law, and the government rhetoric that preceded it, fueled homophobic and transphobic crime.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia/Tskhinvali Region
Right to life
On 9 April, the European Court of Human Rights found that Russia had been in violation of several human rights, including the right to life, while setting up and policing the boundaries of the breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It ruled that the border incidents were “sufficiently numerous and interconnected” to conclude that Russia was allowing systematic violations to take place.
Inhumane detention conditions
Throughout the year, civilians were reportedly subjected to detention in the South Ossetia region, in harsh conditions, with limited access to legal representation or medical care.
