"We are five minutes away from a dictatorship": Alarm in Georgia over the authoritarian drift of the pro-Russian government

BarcelonaFor a year now, Tbilisi's central Rustaveli Avenue has become the stage for resistance in Georgia every night. Waving Georgian and European Union flags, critics of the government led by the Georgian Dream party have demonstrated continuously in front of Parliament since November 28th of last year, when the last parliamentary elections were held. considered a fraud by the country's opposition and much of the international communitySince then, repression against dissent has intensified, to the point that all but two opposition party leaders are imprisoned; one of them is under investigation and lives in exile. Furthermore, the government has begun the process of outlawing the three main rival parties.

"We are five minutes away from a dictatorship," political scientist Sergi Kapanadze, founder of the ARA, declared in the newspaper. think tank Grass. Kapanadze, who was vice-president of the Georgian Parliament from 2016 to 2020 and deputy foreign minister from 2011 to 2012, says that "there is still a small chance to stop it. But overall, they have made it very clear what path they are on." Other activists assert that the situation can already be described as a dictatorial regime.

"It's already a dictatorship. We have 57 political prisoners who have already been convicted, 66 in pretrial detention, and every day there are arrests on administrative charges. So far this year, more than a thousand have been documented, an enormous number in a small country like Georgia, according to Transparency International. "Definitely, on paper, we are in a dictatorship," agrees activist and lawyer Baia Pataraia, although she adds that the government does not have enough power to implement a total dictatorial regime because Georgia is a country with few resources, very dependent on the rest of the world.

The authoritarian and pro-Russian trend of the Somni Georgian government began after the Russian invasion of UkraineBut the situation has worsened significantly in the last year, according to several witnesses. Following the parliamentary elections, the government announced the suspension of the accession process to the European Union until 2028, even though polls show that a large majority of the population is pro-European. Brussels had long warned Tbilisi that the drift toward repression of civil rights was distancing Georgia from the Union and that significant measures needed to be taken to reduce corruption and strengthen democracy. But given the worsening situation, the EU declared earlier this month that it considers Georgia "a candidate country in name only." "Georgia has experienced a serious democratic backsliding, a rapid erosion of the rule of law, and a severe restriction of fundamental rights," stated the Commission's annual report on future EU enlargement.

Persecution of NGOs and independent media

The government has passed more than twenty anti-democratic laws that have suspended the work of civil society organizations and restricted the work of independent media. Electoral authorities declared Somni Georgià the winner of the elections with 54% of the vote, and in protest, the opposition has boycotted the elections and refused to participate in Parliament ever since.

Since the spring of 2024, the Georgian Dream government has introduced several laws to restrict the work of human rights organizations and independent media. In May of that year, Tbilisi he experienced massive demonstrations against the "law on transparency of foreign influence", similar to Russian legislation against The dissent. Last March, the government adopted the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires individuals or organizations to register as such if they receive funds from abroad—legislation also promoted by the pro-Russian governments of Slovakia and Hungary. Failure to comply can result in a sentence of up to five years in prison.

There are at least seven major NGOs in the country with frozen bank accounts. One is the women's rights organization Sapari, led by Baia Pataraia. "We continue working as volunteers, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to operate," she laments. "Most NGOs have disappeared; about a hundred are under strict financial surveillance and, in some cases, are also under judicial investigation, as is the case with Transparency International," adds Eka Gigauri, who says that this very Friday they closed their five offices in the country after twenty-five years of operation. "We can't receive funds; we don't have money to pay for anything," she summarizes.

Banning of political parties

In recent months, several political leaders, as well as civil society activists—including Eka Gigauri—have been charged in a broad case of alleged "sabotage" against the state, which can carry sentences of between six and nine years in prison. "The opposition is in prison, and now the process of banning opposition parties has been set in motion," warns Kapanadze. At the end of October, Somni Georgiaa announced that it would ask the Constitutional Court to outlaw the three main pro-European opposition political parties, arguing that they "continuously deny the political legitimacy of the current government and the ruling political party of Georgia." The main target of this process is the National Unity Movement, founded by former president Mikheil Saakashvili, the opposition leader operating behind the scenes from prison. On October 4, coinciding with local elections boycotted by most of the opposition, a group of protesters stormed the presidential palace, which the government called an attempted coup. "No one will go unpunished. We have more resources than last year or the year before to identify the perpetrators," warned Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.

Authorities have increased surveillance through security cameras deployed on city streets. And they have toughened penalties for protesters. A few months ago, it was common for most participants to cover their faces with masks, eye masks, or scarves. Now, simply covering your face carries a fine and can even lead to a prison sentence. imprisonment in case of recidivism.

"“Although people are afraid, there are also many who are willing to go to jail,” Gigauri asserts. All three believe that resistance is the only thing that can stop the government. But they also think it would help if Western countries increased pressure on Georgian Dream.

“It’s not a security problem. Russia sees that it can win using elections and propaganda, and it will try to replicate that in other countries,” Pataraia says. The activists and analysts agree on pointing to one person behind this trend: the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder and honorary president of the ruling party, who made his fortune in Russia.

According to Kapanadze, the authoritarian trend began as early as 2017, when the party achieved a sufficient majority to govern alone. But the turning point was the Russian invasion of Ukraine, "when it was no longer possible to remain neutral." "They didn't explicitly side with Russia, but their behavior made it clear that they have no sympathy for Ukraine," he states. "But the biggest problem," he asserts, "was the start of the EU integration process, because the necessary reforms would have jeopardized the oligarch's power." And he concludes: "Everything they have done has been in Russia's interest."