Western leaders condemn arrests of Georgian opposition politicians

Following the arrests and announcement of prison sentences for several leading Georgian opposition politicians, Western officials have condemned the crackdown but again failed to announce specific actions they would take in response.

In the past week, four Georgian opposition politicians were handed several-month prison sentences for failing to appear at a government-mandated commission formed to investigate wrongdoings under the former ruling United National Movement (UNM) party.

In line with recurring sentiments of disapproval connected to democratic backsliding in Georgia over recent years, Western leaders again voiced their condemnation of the arrests.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, said the bloc’s foreign ministers had ‘discussed the growing repression in Georgia, including attacks on opposition leaders and media’, adding that the EU is ‘ready to consider further restrictive measures on those who are responsible’.

Kallas further described the arrests and lengthy prison sentences of protesters as ‘not proportional for these acts, which means that the justice system seems to be part of this repression machine’.

While Kallas said that there was ‘discussion of putting sanctions on judges who are conducting these things’, she did not raise the prospect of more dramatic measures that many in the Georgian opposition are calling for, such as the suspension of the EU’s association agreement or the revocation of free trade deals.

Marta Kos, the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner, took a similar approach, condemning the ruling Georgian Dream party’s actions but declining to outline a concrete response.

The US, which has largely remained under the radar in regards to its position on Georgia under President Donald Trump, told the opposition-aligned media outlet Formula that it is ‘deeply concerned by the continuation and increase in anti-democratic actions in Georgia, including the detention of political opposition figures and targeted harassment of civil society’.

‘We have serious concerns that Georgia is using its recently passed legislation [...] selectively against actual or perceived critics of the Georgian government — thus restricting freedom of expression and unduly limiting the work of civil society’, a State Department spokesperson said in a written comment to the media outlet.

Benjamin Haddad, the French Minister for European Affairs, said the arrests were ‘unacceptable’ and that France ‘condemns the authoritarian drift of Georgian Dream, following the elections in 2024 that were neither free nor fair’. Nonetheless, he too opted not to call for any specific actions.

At the same time, other Western officials were more outspoken in their criticism of the arrests, as well as the perceived inaction from the EU.

Along with anger at Georgian Dream, many Georgians took to social media to express their frustration at the West, arguing that Georgia’s traditional Western allies have repeatedly issued platitudes of concern while taking few concrete actions to counter Georgian Dream’s authoritarian slide.

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