The European Union has called on the Georgian authorities to ensure the right of Georgian citizens to protest and to conduct proper investigations into cases of police violence. This announcement was made by Peter Stano, the spokesperson for the EU External Action Service, during a briefing held today.
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He stated that the EU had witnessed "brutal actions" and strongly condemned intimidation, threats, and physical attacks against protesters, civil society activists, politicians, and journalists.
"What we see in Georgia is the truly impressive commitment and desire of the vast majority of the Georgian population toward the European future of their country. We certainly expect the Georgian government to reflect this desire and the commitment of their people to democracy and the European values we share.
What we have seen in Georgia in the last few days, especially in the response of the authorities, particularly the police, has been violence. We strongly condemn the intimidation, threats, and physical abuse against protesters, civil society activists, politicians, journalists, and media workers. These actions are brutal, and we witnessed them last night as well. We strongly condemn this. We call on the authorities to ensure the right to protest, to properly investigate all misconduct and violations, if they are committed, and we expect those responsible to be punished," said Peter Stano.
He stated that the countries of the European Union are closely monitoring the situation and are loudly and clearly stating their opinion, especially regarding the so-called transparency law.
In response to a question about possible sanctions against Georgia, Peter Stano noted that it should be a common decision of the member states.
"Sanctions are not an issue on which the highest representative makes a decision. This decision is taken by member states when they reach a consensus that nothing else will bring the desired result. We are not at that stage yet. Georgia, despite everything, is a candidate country, and we hope, expect, and call on the authorities to return to the European path and fulfill the commitments they made voluntarily when they applied for candidate status for their country," Stano said.
Today, on May 13, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Georgian Parliament considered and supported, in the third reading, the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents re-initiated by the Georgian Dream. The opposition could not enter the session, which lasted one minute.
Citizens spent the night before the committee meeting at the Parliament. In the early morning, the authorities broke up the peaceful demonstration and cleared the entrances to the parliament so that the Georgian Dream MPs could enter the legislative body. The Internal Affairs Ministry arrested 20 people at the rally. Some of them were brutally beaten by the special forces.
On April 3, 2024, Georgian Dream once again initiated the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents in the parliament, which had been withdrawn a year ago as a result of thousands of protests, and promised never to accept it again. The Russian Law requires independent media and non-governmental organizations that operate with grant support from international funds and cannot be controlled by the government or related groups to register as foreign agents. More than 150 non-governmental and media organizations have declared that they will not register in the "defamation register" under any circumstances. Georgian Dream plans to adopt the Russian aw in the third and final reading on May 14.
