Despite the seizures and repression, Georgian NGOs will continue their activities. This was stated by the Executive Director of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, Keti Khutsishvili, in a statement made on behalf of Georgian NGOs at the briefing held by NGOs.
According to her, “The seizure of seven independent organizations to the detriment of the Georgian people is another illegal act by the Ivanishvili government, which violates fundamental human rights and serves to sabotage the European integration process.”
“Today, the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office, within the framework of an absurd investigation, has seized 7 independent organizations that do Georgian work, serve Georgian citizens, and fight for Georgia’s European future. The grounds for the seizure are that we have been helping massively tortured people, prisoners of conscience, and fined citizens. The illegal ruling does not contain any factual justification. The judge made the decision based solely on template quotes.
The enemies of the Georgian people want us to no longer be able to protect the rights of children, women, people with disabilities, students, illegally detained people, workers, and the elderly; to no longer investigate injustice, corruption, torture, and systemic violence; to no longer defend them in Strasbourg and other international courts. They want not only to sabotage the future of European integration, but also the deprivation of the greatest good that the Georgian people have already gained – the right to visa-free travel.
We will not stop our work. Despite the seizure, repression or threats, we will stubbornly continue to work as long as the Georgian people fight for law and justice every day. We will fight against authoritarian rules and Russian laws and use all legal mechanisms so that the opponents of the country’s democratic and European path, as enshrined in the Constitution, cannot achieve their goal. We will defend Georgia’s European path, continue to fight for the preservation of visa-free travel and Georgia’s democratic future,” the organizations say.
NGOs: The seizure of seven independent organizations is another illegality of the Ivanishvili government, which violates fundamental human rights and serves to sabotage the European integration process – we will not stop our activities
