TBILISI/APRIL 11 2024 (The Bulletin) — — Thousands of people protested in Tbilisi against the Georgian Dream government’s attempt to re-impose a Kremlin-inspired “foreign agents” law.
Its move to impose the law a year after riots forced it to abandon its first attempt came as Kyrgyzstan adopted its own version of the law that crimps Western-funded NGOs and media groups.
“This is a Russian law,” said one of the protesters gathered in central Tbilisi. Many waved the blue and gold flag of the European Commission and accused the Georgian Dream of being a Kremlin stooge.
Although Georgia fought a war against Russia in 2008 over its breakaway territories, the Georgian Dream has kept Georgia officially neutral over the Russia-Ukraine war and has even improved some business and education-related ties with the Kremlin
Salome Zurabishvili, Georgia’s pro-West president, called the “foreign agents” law a betrayal of Georgia’s newly won EU candidate status.
“This is a Russian dream,” she said in a dig at the Georgian Dream’s name
The EU said that the “foreign agents” bill was “incompatible” with Georgia’s push to join the bloc and Freedom House, a US human rights group, said that Georgia was becoming a “semi-consolidated authoritarian regime”.
The Georgian Dream has said that the law is needed to reduce foreign influence in its politics and to promote funding transparency. It also said that opposition parties had misled people last year by misrepresenting the law to score political points, a charge rejected by opposition leaders.
Opposition activists have accused the Kremlin of using its 2012 law to stamp out dissent.
Kyrgyzstan has also been criticised for adopting its own version of the “foreign agents” law.
“The legislation that restricts civil society organisations’ ability to operate freely could have a negative impact on the Kyrgyz society and their cooperation with international partners,” said the EU.
ENDS
— This story was published in issue 564 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on April 15 2024
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2024