‘We can be on the path to the EU or to Belarus’:
Political thug culture grips Georgia
Intimidation is becoming a feature of daily life, even
before a controversial new Kremlin-style law takes effect.
MAY 15,
2024 4:00 AM CET
BY DATO
PARULAVA AND GABRIEL GAVIN
TBILISI —
Gia Japaridze, a 50-year-old lecturer and former diplomat, was ambushed near
his home in Tbilisi on the evening of May 8 by several people wielding sticks
and what he believed was a baseball bat.
“I was born
in the Soviet Union. I wasn’t afraid of the Communists. They can’t scare me
either. I don’t have any doubts — I know that the government was behind this,”
said Japaridze, who needed stitches, suffered a concussion and received deep
livid bruises across his back.
His
assailants made clear they were targeting him because of his public opposition
to a Russian-style law on “foreign agents” that Georgia’s parliament approved
on Tuesday.
Critics of
the new law fear the government will use it to crack down on media, the
opposition and civil society in this Caucasian country of 3.7 million people.
Tens of thousands of protesters have packed the streets, incensed that their
government seems determined to scupper the country’s prospects of joining the
EU.
Brussels
had feared the new law would precede a brutal crackdown on dissent — but
violence and intimidation against the opposition is already spiking, even
before the law takes effect.
Speaking to
POLITICO at a protest on Tuesday, Japaridze’s brother, opposition politician
Zurab Japaridze, said he would not yield to violence because the country’s
democratic future was at stake.
“We can
either be on the path to Europe or on the path to Belarus,” he said.
Zurab
Japaridze also said a group of men had attempted to attack him on three
occasions since the foreign agent law began to draw resistance. During one
attempt he fired a gun in the air to deter his assailants.
In
somebody’s crosshairs
Nino
Zuriashvili also ran afoul of the growing political menace.
The founder
of investigative outlet Studio Monitor, one of the outlets that faces being
branded as a foreign agent, Zuriashvili received a call last week from an
unknown number. The voice on the other end of the line insulted her because of
her opposition to the bill. Dozens of other protesters and prominent activists
say they have faced similar threats.
A few days
later, when Zuriashvili arrived at her office, she was greeted by dozens of
flyers bearing her face plastered across the walls outside, accusing her of
being “an agent sold for money” and calling the investigative outlet an
“anti-Georgian agency.”
“This was a
very unpleasant feeling. It meant that I was in somebody’s crosshairs,” she
told POLITICO.
She found
similar posters near her house. Her car was also vandalized, spray-painted with
penises and graffiti calling her an “agent sold for money.”
“It just
made me realize that I was right all along,” she said. “The government is
creating groups to oppress us. We are waking up in Russia. We will fight this
war to the end. Georgia will not become Russia.”
Dimitri
Chikovani, a member of the United National Movement opposition party, was
attacked by a group of unidentified men near his house on May 8 — the same
night as the attack on Gia Japaridze. CCTV footage shows five men beating him
relentlessly as he exits his car. He ended up in a hospital with multiple
injuries to his face and body.
Chikovani
blamed the ruling Georgian Dream and the enigmatic oligarch who founded the
party and now serves as its honorary chairman, Bidzina Ivanishvili.
“The
attackers and the interior ministry serve the same lord” he said, adding that
despite the launch of a formal investigation, he was sure police won’t take his
case seriously.
Georgian Dream database
The
governing Georgian Dream party shows no sign of trying to dial down tensions.
Playing to
conservative supporters, and brushing off criticism from the EU and U.S., the
party says the new law is needed to stop foreign influence from undermining
traditional values.
“If we bow
to these Soviet-style foreign directives, in the future they’ll just as
successfully demand us to reject laws on family values and protection of
minors, to adopt same sex marriage, to legalize drugs,” Prime Minister Irakli
Kobakhidze said on Monday.
As for the
beatings, Justice Minister Rati Bregadze claimed the pro-EU protesters
themselves were to blame for carrying out assaults against their own
supporters. “If anybody benefits from such a mess, these are the people behind
these protesters,” he said.
Meanwhile,
Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has threatened to crack down on the
demonstrators — announcing plans to create a database of those he says are
“involved in violence, illegal activities, intimidation and blackmail or
approve of such behavior.”
The
database would be published online to name and shame those accused of
transgressions. Critics see it as yet another move to discredit the
government’s opponents.
Georgian
Dream did not responded to repeated requests for comment.
On Tuesday,
as the Georgian parliament voted 84-30 in favor of the bill, thousands gathered
outside the legislature in central Tbilisi to drown out proceedings with a
chorus of whistles, vuvuzelas and banging pots and pans. Riot police dispersed
the crowds with water cannon and a sonic weapon. Authorities arrested dozens,
deploying teargas against peaceful protesters, and have been accused of beating
detainees.
At the edge
of the rally, several men in black, wearing masks, accosted journalists and
bystanders, taking pictures of those present in an apparent bid to intimidate
them. Asked by POLITICO to identify themselves and explain their side of the
debate, they remained silent and continued to photograph attendees.
Georgian
Dream has been warned by its U.S. and EU partners that adoption of the bill
will harm Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
U.S. State
Department Assistant Secretary Jim O’Brien warned of potential sanctions after
Tuesday’s vote.
“‘If the
law goes forward, out of conformity with EU norms, and there’s undermining of
democracy here, and there’s violence against peaceful protesters, then we’ll
see restrictions coming from the U.S. These tend to be financial and travel
restrictions on the individuals responsible for these actions and their
families.”
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