Georgia

The European Union is threatening Georgia, a candidate country for membership, with sanctions over violations of core European values. Georgia’s democratic backsliding will not go without consequences, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said following a meeting of bloc foreign ministers in Brussels.

A court in Georgia has sentenced prominent opposition figure Nika Gvaramia to eight months in prison, amid a deepening crackdown on critics of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Authorities in Georgia are tightening the screws on dissent, manipulating legal and law enforcement frameworks to jail or financially punish critics, increase surveillance, bankrupt watchdog entities and impose restrictions designed to cut off funding channels for democracy activism.

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Russia-friendly billionaire considered Georgia's most powerful political figure, has refused a meeting with the US ambassador in Tbilisi, which the embassy said was requested to deliver a message from the Trump administration.

Georgia has fired around 700 civil servants for supporting pro-European Union protests in the South Caucasus country since December, according to the local chapter of anti-corruption organisation Transparency International.

Chaos erupted in the Georgian courtroom as the verdict was announced, with Mikheil Saakashvili’s supporters calling the judge a ''slave'' of the current government. Saakashvili was found guilty of embezzlement. 

The European Press Freedom Report for 2024 found that Georgia witnessed a sharp deterioration in press freedoms and one of steepest declines in journalists’ safety in Europe, over the course of last year. 

Kremlin-favored candidate Badra Gunba won the presidential runoff in Abkhazia, a Russian-backed breakaway region that legally is a part of Georgia, de facto election authorities said on March 2. Gunba, 47, failed to secure an outright majority in the first round on February 15, forcing the runoff against Adgur Ardzinba, a challenger critical of some Russian-backed economic policies.

On January 29, the Republic of Georgia ceased participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) after the latter demanded new parliamentary elections and the release of political prisoners.

Georgian authorities arrested several opposition figures during anti-government protests on the streets of Tbilisi on February 2, prompting the European Union to again condemn what it termed the "brutal crackdown" on dissent.