Chairman of the Greens Movement/Friends of the Earth Nino Chkobadze believes that the Russian Law will legalize eavesdropping in Georgia. She announced this today during the discussion of the second reading of the law in the Parliament Legal Affairs Committee.
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“We are discussing subsection b of Article 8, Part 2 of the Russian Law initiated by Georgian Dream, which states that in order to identify an organization that pursues the interests of a foreign power, the Justice Ministry will begin monitoring based on "written information containing relevant details about a specific organization that pursues the interests of a foreign power," submitted to the Ministry.
"I believe this is the first instance in the history of Georgia's independence where we are attempting to legalize eavesdropping with this article. I use this term directly because “proper information” can be understood no other way. We are trying to replicate the mistakes of the previous century, 37 years ago. Unfortunately, this “proper information” would pose significant problems not only for organizations but also for individuals who might be engaged as experts in organizations like ours.
That's why I say openly that I wish there was no provision for eavesdropping at all, because Georgia's history is full of negative experiences. It has also affected my family, and today I can tell you directly that it will happen again in Georgia if we don't remove this provision. There should be a different approach here, or it should not exist at all, or it should be clearly stated that if an organization fails to do something or does something, the Justice Ministry should act based on the initial information. Under no circumstances should eavesdropping be the basis, because we are legalizing the term “eavesdropping” in Georgian legislation," Chchobadze said.
The Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee will discuss the Russian Law in the second reading starting at 09:25 in the morning. Currently, there is no opposition remaining in the hall, as a significant portion was ejected from the meeting by the committee chairman, and some left in protest. Anri Okhanashvili expelled representatives of non-governmental organizations from the discussion.
On April 3, 2024, Georgian Dream once again initiated in parliament the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents, which was withdrawn a year ago as a result of widespread protests, with a promise to never reintroduce it. The Russian Law requires independent media and non-governmental organizations that operate with grant support from international organizations and cannot be controlled by the government or related groups to register as foreign agents. More than 150 non-governmental and media organizations issued a statement declaring that they will not register in the "defamation register" under any circumstances.
