Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated that, with the registration of over 450 non-governmental organizations in the Register of Agents, the four lawsuits filed in the Constitutional Court against the Russian law have become "even more unpromising."
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"This lawsuit was already unpromising from a legal standpoint. After the organization Shame Movement confessed and admitted that this law neither stigmatizes nor imposes any restrictions, and after more than 450 organizations registered with the Ministry of Justice, the lawsuit became even more hopeless. Moreover, incompetent individuals were representing an already unpromising lawsuit - do you know who they were? Burjanadze, Beselia, and others. These odious NGO-types and politicians. So, I cannot imagine what legal perspective this lawsuit could possibly have," Irakli Kobakhidze said at today's briefing.
President Salome Zourabichvili, 122 non-governmental and media organizations, 38 opposition MPs, as well as media organizations Mtis Ambebi and Studio Monitori, have appealed the Russian law on so-called foreign agents to the Constitutional Court. They argue that the law contradicts several articles of the Constitution and should therefore be repealed. The plaintiffs are demanding that the Constitutional Court suspend the operation of the disputed provisions until a final decision is made.
The settlement session for the combined lawsuits began on August 29 and concluded on August 31. For the ninth consecutive day, the Constitutional Court's plenary session has been debating whether to admit the lawsuits (in whole or in part) and whether to suspend the law's validity.
Opposition MPs Ana Natsvlishvili and Tamar Kordzaia called on the Constitutional Court judges to deliver a timely decision by September 6. According to Natsvlishvili, each day the court fails to halt the Russian law's operation, Georgia's European integration is being delayed.
The deadline for non-governmental and media organizations, which receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad, to voluntarily register in the special register created under the Russian law, expired on September 2. Approximately 1.5% of all organizations were registered as 'representing the interests of a foreign power.'
