Issued by Transparency International SecretariatTransparency International is deeply concerned by the political crisis and backlash against independent civil society groups in Georgia, which risk harming democratic progress in the country and undermining attempts to fight corruption.
The court has, at this point, heard the cases of only 12 of the 37 demonstrators who were arrested at the protest of November 18. Ten of them were sentenced to administrative detention, one was fined, and one was given a verbal warning. The judge was supposed to hear the cases of the remaining demonstrators today, but in the morning it became known that the trials had been postponed.
In light of the ongoing tense political developments in the country, we are calling on the government:
November 15, 2019Dear President Stanishev,Dear Secretary-General Post,
We, the signatory organizations, respond to the denial of granting legal status to the victims of June 20-21 events and we call upon the Prosecutor’s Office to grant the victim status to all the injured people promptly and to conduct a timely, complete and objective investigation of the case.