Georgia’s Protest against the “Anti-European Dream”

The announcement of the suspension of Georgia’s EU membership process on 28 November 2024 sparked large-scale protests in the capital and other cities across the country. While police brutality and grave breaches of freedom of assembly were also documented in spring 2024, the violent crackdown, mass arbitrary arrests, and systematic torture and ill-treatment of participants during the 28 November - 8 December protests was unprecedented. Apart from the unjustified dispersal of peaceful assemblies through the unlawful deployment of non-lethal weapons, law enforcement agents, without identifying insignia, subjected detainees to extreme physical violence. The police then prevented them from seeking medical assistance and made protesters sign police reports containing false information regarding the circumstances of their arrest. Administrative detention was usually prolonged up to 48 hours, and lawyers or family members had no information regarding the whereabouts of detained protesters.

Systematic Torture and Ill-treatment Against Protest Participants

OMCT, alongside its partners, has documented cases of torture and other ill-treatment by interviewing survivors, witnesses, and representatives of Georgian civil society organisations. In most cases, physical attacks reaching the threshold of torture and other ill-treatment were carried out by police officers wearing face masks and black uniforms without insignia. Apart from severely beating up arrested protest participants, their strategy included encircling and violently assaulting protesters in the early morning, when most demonstrators had already left the protest site or while others were attempting to leave.

Interviews conducted by OMCT reveal that cases of torture and other forms of ill-treatment were not isolated incidents, but instead a coordinated effort by different state institutions, which amounted to state policy. One testimony revealed that detainees were forced to loudly praise Zviad Kharazishvili, also known as Khareba, the Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Tasks Department. Notably, Khareba himself is occasionally seen at protest sites, for instance, in front of “Tbilisi Mall” on 2 February 2025, where he physically assaulted a detainee.

Apart from riot police, physical attacks and intimidation of protesters were coordinated and executed by unidentifiable groups of masked men in civilian attire, so-called “titushkies”. Cases like this against protesters but also against journalists have been documented. While street violence has decreased since 8 December, targeted attacks by “titushkies” still occur today. However, members of this group and law enforcement officers still have not faced responsibility for the crimes perpetrated.

Impunity of Perpetrators and Unavailability of Effective Domestic Remedies

An evident reason for the lack of investigation regarding cases of torture and other serious breaches of fundamental rights might be the absence of political will to give justice to survivors. In addition, the Georgian Dream seems to normalise the violent suppression of dissenting voices in the country through the encouragement of violence from law enforcement. The Special Investigation Service was created as an “independent body” but is failing to hold perpetrators accountable. The Chief Prosecutor’s Office is also reluctant to identify and prosecute violent men in civilian clothes. Apart from that, the judiciary branch seems to be deprived of independence or impartiality, as evidenced by the blanket application of administrative sanctions and unreasoned utilization of pre-trial detention as a measure of restraint in criminal cases. Hence, the principle of separation of powers has been practically abolished, and the Georgian Dream therefore exercises control over all three branches of the government.

Sweeping Legislative Amendments

The Parliament, where no genuine opposition parties are represented, has been adopting draconian laws to further suppress the freedoms of assembly and expression in Georgia. Since November last year, legislative amendments have been introduced, among others, to the Code of Administrative Offences and the Law of Georgia on Assemblies and Manifestations. The purpose of these amendments is to strengthen repressive measures against protesters. Changes include significant increases in administrative sanctions, in some cases, new fines are at least two or three times more important than before. Most notably, the length of administrative detention was increased from 15 to 60 days. As of today, protesters are still receiving notices about the initiation of their judicial proceedings on charges of violating rules of holding public assemblies, and the common courts continue to issue administrative fines without reliable evidence.

Politically Motivated Judicial Proceedings

Judicial proceedings against protest participants and affiliated actors are widely perceived as politically motivated, therefore defendants are systematically deprived of a fair trial. Human rights defenders’ motions are constantly disregarded, and judges usually deliver judgments based on testimonies of police officers who were not necessarily present at the time of arrests. Appellate Courts generally refuse to overrule the first instance courts’ decisions, and political prisoners remain in pre-trial detention without proper justification or grounds for this measure of restraint.

This behaviour from various state institutions shows that coordinated efforts are directed at the systematic suppression of dissenting voices, which is deeply rooted in discrimination on political grounds. Systematic torture or other ill-treatment of protest participants and serious breaches of numerous fundamental rights seem to have become a state policy for the Georgian Dream’s government, as evidenced by total impunity and statements of public officials directly or indirectly encouraging acts violence. However, Georgians continue their resistance by taking over the Rustaveli Avenue every day since 28 November of last year. Protesters and local civil society organisations are in urgent need of support from the international community, now more than ever.