Georgia replaces disputed agent team

Georgia’s reigning party Georgian dream wants to replace the disputed “agent team” from last year against a copy of an American law.

Georgian dream announces that it should replace a severely criticized law that forces non-governmental organizations and media organizations to register as “organizations working for the interests of a foreign power” if they receive at least one fifth of their financing from abroad.

The introduction of the law in May last year became the starting point for daily street protests, condemnations from the West and a veto from the then president, where critics accused the government of focusing on their opponents with rules inspired by a Russian law used to suffocate different thinking .

“Foreign funding”

Georgian dream intends to replace the law with “an accurate, literal copy” of an American law that forces lobbyists and lawyers to declare if they work on behalf of foreign interests. However, media organizations are exempted in the US version.

The party does not specify any reason for the measure but notes that it acts according to “recent scandals about the use of foreign funding for political concerns in Georgia” – formulations that are often used to, without evidence, accuse the Western world to finance a “revolution” in the country.

Political turbulence

Tbilisi has been characterized by political turbulence since Georgian dream was proclaimed victorious in the parliamentary elections in October. The opposition, as well as, among other things, the European Parliament, has rejected the result and the process has been followed by cheating thoughts, which also caused extensive protests.

Hundreds of protesters, as well as several human rights activists, journalists and politicians, have been arrested during the protests that followed the election.