27 August 2024
Georgia’s Anti-Corruption Bureau has requested that the non-profit group behind Democracy Festival, along with major opposition parties, submit their financial reports for the past eight months.
On Tuesday, the Georgian Anti-Corruption Bureau instructed Freedom Square, part of the opposition Strong Georgia alliance, the pro-democracy Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy (EECMD), and their founder, Levan Tsutskiridze, to declare their electoral finances from 11 April onwards.
In doing so, the Bureau effectively designated EECMD as a political organisation and part of the ongoing parliamentary election campaign.
Tsutskiridze launched Freedom Square as a separate ‘public movement’ on 1 July. Sixteen days later, it was announced that the group had become part of a new opposition alliance with the Lelo and For the People parties, which was later named Strong Georgia.
The Bureau argued that, despite not registering as a political organisation, Freedom Square had come under their legal scrutiny for electoral finances monitoring as the group publicly declared a mission to influence a political outcome.
The Bureau also cited Article 26.1(1) of the law On the Political Associations of Citizens, which specifies that restrictions on political financing also apply to individuals who declare their intention to stand for elections and use financial resources for that purpose.
‘This is evidenced by the scale of their activities’, the Anti-Corruption Bureau asserted.
Though not mentioned in the decree, the Bureau’s head, Razhden Kuprashvili, specified in his Tuesday morning briefing that his office was indeed investigating the Democracy Festival, a series of events organised by EECMD and, according to Kuprashvili, also by Freedom Square.
EECMD branded their Democracy Festival events, held across several Georgian cities in August, as spaces to celebrate the spirit of democracy and ‘encourage dialogue among community groups and strengthen civic and political engagement.’ On 15 August, EECMD reported that they were unable to hold their final event, which was planned in Batumi, due to government pressure on local businesses not to host them and local authorities withholding the necessary permits. The organisers now plan to hold the event at Lisi Lake in Tbilisi on 31 August.
The festival has repeatedly come under fire from members of the ruling party, who criticised the Danish Embassy in Georgia for supporting what they described as electoral and even ‘extremist’ content.
Kuprashvili argued at the 27 August briefing that the Festival invited only a select number of political parties to participate, and that the events were not inclusive for all non-profit groups, while stating that the probe was still ongoing.
Freedom Square responded later that same day by denying they had failed to declare their finances, calling the Bureau’s request an ‘obscene’ and ‘unfortunate’ decision taken under the instruction of Georgian Dream.
The primary criticism from the ruling party has been that Georgian legislation prohibits legal entities registered outside Georgia and foreign citizens from financing political parties in the country. They have insisted that Western donors have largely ignored the spirit of this law and have effectively interfered in domestic electoral campaigns by financing opposition groups through non-profit local organisations.
Indeed, on Tuesday, Kuprashvili also claimed that political parties within all major opposition alliances — Unity - National Movement, Strong Georgia, and Coalition for Change — have failed to fully disclose their funding and tasked them with submitting their financial statements for the January–August period.
‘Their election campaigns and activities may be funded by foreign donor organisations or other sources that, in turn, provide funds to non-governmental organisations associated with these political parties […] Supporting political parties and processes with foreign money poses a threat to a fair electoral process’, Kuprashvili argued.
Sergo Chikhladze, a member of Unity - National Movement, suggested that the Agency should instead investigate the ruling party, including last year’s claims that then-Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili made personal use of state resources, including chartering a private plane to fly to Munich, sparking allegations of undeclared wealth.
Georgia’s Anti-Corruption Bureau was established in late 2022 as part of the institutional reforms required by the EU for the country’s membership candidacy, with Kuprashvili becoming its first head in February of the following year.
However, the Bureau has faced criticism since its inception, with sceptics arguing that the agency would not be truly independent from the government as long as its leader was confirmed by the prime minister and its functions remained murky and unambitious to crack down on corruption in the country.
