Georgia - September 2023

In statements made during September and early October, the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) accused the Center for Applied Non-Violent Actions and Strategies (CANVAS), a small Tbilisi-based NGO, of orchestrating the violent overthrow of the Georgian state together with the government of Ukraine, the bodyguard of imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, and others. Leading figures in government supported the SSSG’s statement, despite the Service’s lack of evidence. The accusations were sparked by CANVAS’s facilitation of a USAID funded training on nonviolent activism. The move follows other steps the Georgian government has taken to curtail freedom of association and expression in the country, including fining a protester for holding up a blank sheet of paper, charging another protester with a separate, formerly dormant case to prevent his release from pretrial detention, and banning protests in and around the parliament building. 

Sources: OC Media, Civil Rights Defenders, Eurasianet, Agenda.ge, Civil.ge 

On 19 September, the Georgian Central Bank announced an abrupt change in its policy on compliance with American financial sanctions, saying that the constitution requires a conviction in a domestic court before it can comply with American sanctions. The announcement came after ruling Georgian Dream party officials began fiercely criticizing the addition of former prosecutor-general Otar Partskhaladze to the US State Department list of sanctioned individuals for his cooperation with Russia’s security services. Georgian Dream’s founder and de facto leader Bidzina Ivanishvili has business ties with Partskhaladze, and the political opposition and civil society have said these ties account for Partskhaladze’s special treatment. Three of the bank’s four vice presidents resigned in protest of the decision. Major Georgian commercial banks stated they intended to comply with American sanctions regardless, and the International Monetary Fund suspended a lending program in response. Opposition parties also fiercely condemned the decision. Partskhaladze is a controversial figure in Georgia, having served prison time in Germany for assaulting a police officer and having twice been credibly accused of kidnapping and assaulting high-ranking Georgian officials.  

Sources: OC Media (1), BNE Intellinews, Eurasianet, OC Media (2)