Civil society organizations representatives responded to the anti-Western statements made by the ruling Georgian Dream party during a briefing today and called on citizens to gather at the parliament at 19:00. As they said, it has become clear to everyone that the purpose of adopting the Russian Law is not "transparency" but rather to change the country's foreign policy direction.
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“For weeks, civil society has been explaining in detail why the Russian Law is unconstitutional, the end of Georgian democracy, and deliberately damaging to the common national pursuit of integration into the European Union. However, no one could convince the public about the harmful consequences of the Russian law better than the government's statements yesterday.
The government has openly stated that by adopting the Russian law, they plan to start repression against the people. They declared their will for election rigging, censorship, and a Soviet-style totalitarian regime. They stated that they see the West as the enemy, and did not even mention our occupier, Russia, in this context. Everyone clearly understood that the purpose of the adoption of the Russian law is not the notorious "transparency", but the change of the country's foreign course and the completion of Russification.
Today, the government is taking another step to pass this anti-constitutional law and is planning a plenary discussion of the second reading of the Russian law.
Therefore, we, the members and citizens of the civil society of this country:
- We will oppose the attempt to pass the law in the second reading and we will once again show the government that betraying the Georgian constitution and rejecting the European Union will never be the choice of the Georgian people.
- We call on the political parties to fulfill their duty to the people and to fight even more firmly in the parliament against the Russian law.
- We call on everyone, every citizen of Georgia, for whom the independence of the country, the constitution and the European path of Georgia are important, to gather in front of the parliament at 19:00.
We will monitor the actions of the government and we will act in accordance with the current situation, in accordance with the declared will of the Georgian people and to return the country to the constitutional framework. Yes to Europe! No to the Russian law!” they announced at the briefing.
On April 3, 2024, Georgian Dream once again initiated the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents in the parliament. This law had been withdrawn a year ago due to thousands of protests, with the party promising never to accept it again.
The Russian Law requires the registration of Foreign Agents by independent media and non-governmental organizations that receive grants from international funds and cannot be controlled by the government or related groups. More than 150 non-governmental and media organizations have stated that they will not be registered in the "defamation register" under any circumstances.
On April 17, 83 deputies supported the Russian Law in the first reading, and today, April 30, Georgian Dream will try to pass it in the second reading.
Massive protests against the Russian Law have been held in Tbilisi every day since April 15. Tens of thousands of people participated in the April 28 demonstration.
