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The Observatory has been informed about the
searches at the homes of civil society organisations’ leaders,
including Mr. Aleko Tskitishvili,
the Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, a member
organisation of FIDH. Human Rights Center is a founding member of the
Human Rights House Tbilisi.
On
the morning of 29 April 2025, Mr. Aleko Tskitishvili was stopped near
his home in Tbilisi and searched by representatives of the
Prosecutor’s Office. Subsequently, searches were conducted in his
home, and his work computer, phone, and memory sticks, as well as
notebooks, legal documents and other materials concerning the Human
Rights Center were seized. In parallel, searches were conducted
in the homes of pregnant activist Mariam Bajelidze and Mariam
Geguchadze from the Shame Movement, an organisation that is currently
inactive, as well as journalist Nanuka Zhorzholiani, founder of
Nanuka’s Fund, Prosperity Georgia representative Lasha Arveladze,
and the founder of Foundation For Each Other 24/7, Guga Khelaia.
According
to the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office, the searches were authorised
by the Tbilisi City Court and were carried out to obtain relevant
evidence of “acts of “sabotage”, “foreign aiding and abetting
hostile activities”, as well as the “mobilisation of funds for
activities aimed against the constitutional order and the foundations
of national security of Georgia” (Articles 318, 319 and 321 of the
Criminal Code of Georgia). In March 2025, the Office of Georgia’s
Prosecutor General had already issued a statement
in which it announced that it had been carrying out a criminal
investigation into the financial and legal support provided by five
civil society organisations
(Human Rights House Tbilisi, Shame Movement, Nanuka’s Fund,
Prosperity Georgia and Fund for Each Other 24/7) to individuals who
had participated in the protests, and froze the organisations’ bank
accounts.
The
Observatory recalls
that protests erupted throughout Georgia in November 2024 following
the government’s announcement to suspend the negotiations over
Georgia’s accession to the European Union, which came shortly after
the re-election of the ruling Georgia Dream party in an unfair
election. While the protests remained overwhelmingly peaceful, the
police used water cannons, and tear gas, to disperse the crowds, as
well as excessive force and mistreatment during transportation,
resulting in numerous injuries to protesters and over 480 arbitrary
arrests, some of them amounting to inhuman treatment and, possibly,
torture. The Observatory notes with grave concern that the five
organisations targeted by the investigation have been providing
crucial financial support to protesters, helping them with payments
of administrative fines, legal assistance and representation, as well
as with medical and psychological support.
The
Observatory strongly condemns the ongoing judicial harassment,
including the searches, against human rights defenders and activists,
which aims to punish them and criminalise their legitimate human
rights activities in support of victims of police brutality and
arbitrary detentions. The Observatory also calls on the Georgian
authorities to immediately stop the investigations, to
unconditionally revoke the freezing of the bank accounts of Human
Rights House Tbilisi, Shame Movement and other civil society
organisations, and to respect in all circumstances the
internationally recognised rights to freedom of association and
peaceful assembly.
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