— July edition

Dear readers,

Despite the summer usually being a slow news period, July was heavy in terms of encroachments on freedom of expression and human rights.

One of the most painful changes for me, as a journalist, was the start of media ban on recording audio, photo, and video from the courtrooms. It came as we reach the conclusion of several high profile trials — for protesters, politicians, and Mzia Amaglobeli. While not being able to capture those moments has proved difficult, we, as the media, are still finding ways. These include live blogs and some of even starting courtroom sketches.

August will likely be politically hot as well. More verdicts are to come as we also enter the pre-election period for the local elections. While there is a widespread expectation the results will be fabricated, the vote is splitting the opposition, as eight parties are boycotting elections and two are not.

2 July: Georgian Dream announced they would introduce prison sentences of up to 6 years for possession of over 5 grams of cannabis.

2 July: Georgian Dream passed amendments that would allow the courts to jail those who do not pay protest-related fines, including for blocking a road.

8 July: The sanctioned deputy head of the police’s Special Tasks Department, Mileri Lagazauri, resigned. Netgazeti found that six out of nine Georgian officials sanctioned by the US and the UK in recent months had either stepped down or been moved to lower profile positions.

9 July: The head of the foreign ministry’s Euro-Atlantic Integration Department, Tornike Parulava, said he and the entire department had been fired.

1 July: Ahali/Coalition for Change leader Nika Gvaramia was sentenced to 8 months in prison and banned from public office for 2 years. Tbilisi City Court judge Jvebe Nachkebia convicted Gvaramia of failing to appear before the parliamentary commission set up to investigate the alleged crimes of the former ruling United National Movement (UNM) party.

4 July: Opposition figure Irakli Okruashvili was sentenced to 8 months in prison and banned from public office for 2 years. Tbilisi City Court judge Tamar Mtchedlishvili convicted the former defence minister for failing to appear before the anti-UNM commission.

4 July: 21-year-old medical student and activist Giorgi Mindadze was sentenced to five years in prison for ‘attacking a police officer’.

9 July: Activist Rosto Zarandia was sentenced to five days of administrative arrest for calling the Zugdidi City Hall’s spokesperson a goose in a Facebook comment.

10 July: 19-year-old protester Saba Jikia was sentenced to four years and six months in prison for ‘attacking a police officer’. His alleged victim, Special Tasks Department officer Beka Gotiashvili, conceded during the trial that he did not receive any injuries.

17 July: 26-year-old protester Anri Kvaratskhelia was sentenced to four years and six months in prison for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at a police officer.

21 July: Activist Keta Daudishvili was sentenced to two days of administrative arrest for ‘insulting’ a court bailiff.

5 July: The head of Georgia’s fourth largest company, Silk Road Group, was detained at Tbilisi Airport for ‘illegal firearm possession’. Opposition figure Levan Khabiashvili said he had refused to hand over money to Bidzina Ivaishvili.

30 July: The State Security Service arrested a member of the opposition UNM’s political council, Lasha Tsanava, accusing him of defrauding a foreign national seeking a residence permit.

7 July: Tbilisi City Court Judge Romeo Tkeshelashvili fined RFE/RL journalist Nino Tarkhnishvili ₾200 ($74) for ‘sitting down too early’.

17 July: The Revenue Service froze the bank accounts of online news site Batumelebi over unpaid debts.

22 July: The National Bureau of Enforcement froze the accounts of opposition party Droa and its leader, Elene Khoshtaria over an allegedly unpaid court fee dating back to 2021.

28 July: TV channel Pirveli said it was being sued by Cartu Bank, which was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, for defamation for referring to it as ‘Ivanishvili’s bank’.

3 July: The Communications Commission found TV Pirveli and Formula in breach of broadcasting standards in response to complaints from Georgian Dream that the channels were using biased anti-government statements. This is the first time the new broadcasting standards swept through late last year have been enforced. The Commission did not impose any penalty.

10 July: Police began showing up at the homes of government critics and demanding they take drug tests. It followed amendments passed in April to make the refusal to take a drug test punishable by law.

11 July: The Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the Interior Ministry’s actions during the dispersal of the 2019 ‘Gavrilov’s Night’ protest. Critics suggested the move was aimed at opposition figure Giorgi Gakharia who was Interior Minister at the time of the dispersal.

13 July: Former US diplomat and civil society consultant Maggie Osdoby Katz was denied entry to Georgia without explanation.

14 July: Dutch journalist Joost Bosman was twice denied entry to Georgia in July without official explanation.

16 July: The Prosecutor’s Office requested financial documents from the now-off-air opposition TV channel Mtavari. The request followed a complaint by current director Gogi Kurdadze, prompting an investigation into alleged embezzlement in the company.

20 July: A German citizen holding a passport with a neutral gender marker was denied entry to Georgia for ‘falsifying’ their identification document.

30 July: The mother of Anastasia Zinovkina, a Russian citizen detained in Georgia since December, was denied entry into the country. The woman had intended to travel to Tbilisi to visit her daughter in prison.

6 July: Georgian actor and singer Vano Tarkhnishvili said he was ambushed near his home in Tbilisi. Both he and pro-government social media accounts linked the attack to a song he performed insulting Georgian Dream.

7 July: The disgraced former head of Georgia’s Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Tornike Rizhvadze, was shot in the chest at the home of a Georgian Dream official. Pro-government media initially reported the incident as an attempted suicide, however, questions have arisen over this version of events. Rizhvadze has since been transferred to Turkey where he has so far remained silent.

14 July: Businessperson and Ivanishvili confidante-turned-critic Giorgi Bachiashvili said he was brutally beaten in prison in Tbilisi. Bachiashvili has been in custody since late May, following what he described as a forced return from exile.

14 July: The imprisoned director of Batumelebi and Netgazeti, Mzia Amaghlobeli, testified in court that Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze spat in her face and ordered his subordinates not to allow her to use the bathroom following her arrest in January.

1 July: Georgian Dream MP Irakli Zarkua proposed expelling foreign ambassadors critical of the government, including German Ambassador Peter Fischer and British Ambassador Gareth Ward.

6 July: US Ambassador to Georgia Robin Dunnigan said Georgian Dream sent a private letter to President Trump that was ‘threatening, insulting, [and] unserious’.

8 July: A poll by the Institute of Social Studies and Analysis found that a majority of Georgians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. A vast majority also reported supporting the release of those detained during the protests.

17 July: Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and other officials downplayed the relevance of the EU’s visa-free scheme for Georgians, after Brussels indicated it could soon be revoked. Kobakhidze later blamed a possible revocation on the ‘deep state’ and ‘global war party’, and said ending the agreement could be an economic boost for Georgia.

18 July: Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said Georgian Dream would request the Constitutional Court ban major opposition parties regardless of whether or not they participated in the upcoming local elections.

22 July: Senior Georgian Dream figures accused US Congressperson Joe Wilson of being on the payroll of the opposition UNM Party.

24 July: Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said that if it were up to him, he would expel EU Ambassador Paweł Herczyński from the country.