Georgia: Tbilisi City Court freezes bank accounts of seven further leading civil society organisations amid unfounded investigations for “sabotage”

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Georgia.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed that the Georgian authorities froze the bank accounts of seven civil society organisations, including three leading human rights organisations – the Civil Society Foundation, Sapari, and the Social Justice Center. While the Civil Society Foundation, formerly known as the Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF), focuses on promoting democratic governance and human rights, the Social Justice Center champions social justice and the rights of marginalised communities, and Sapari specialises in protecting women's rights, fighting against violence and discrimination. Both Sapari and the Social Justice Center provide extensive legal support to individuals, including from vulnerable groups.

On 27 August 2025, the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia announced that the Tbilisi City Court had granted its motion to freeze the bank accounts of the Civil Society Foundation, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information, Democracy Defenders, the Georgian Democratic Initiative, Sapari, and the Social Justice Center as part of a criminal investigation launched against the heads of the organisations. In particular, the Prosecutor’s Office alleged that the “leaders of the aforementioned organisations” took “coordinated action (...) to weaken law enforcement agencies and disrupt their normal functioning” by purchasing equipment such as protective goggles and pepper spray, which was “actively used by the protesters during violent confrontations with the police”, and by providing financial and legal support for protesters who were arbitrarily detained and fined for their participation in the mass demonstrations against the adoption of the Law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence”; and the unilateral suspension of the accession to the European Union.

According to the statement, the Georgian authorities are investigating these acts as “sabotage” (Article 318, part 1 of Georgia’s Criminal Code), “attempted sabotage under aggravating circumstances” (Article 318, part 2 of the same Code), “assistance to a foreign organisation and an organisation under foreign control in hostile activities” (Article 314 of the same Code), and “mobilisation of funds for activities directed against the constitutional order and foundations of national security of Georgia” (Article 315 of the same Code). However, the details of the investigation, including the names of the individuals under investigation, remain unknown at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal as the heads of the concerned organisations have no procedural status and no access to the case materials.

If convicted under these charges, individuals would face lengthy prison terms ranging up to life imprisonment, as provided under Article 314 of Georgia’s Criminal Code.

Representatives of several targeted organisations reported that they were not notified that their organisations were investigated by the authorities, nor did they receive any preliminary notification from the authorities about the order to freeze their accounts.

The Observatory recalls that the targeted organisations had been providing crucial financial support to protesters arbitrarily detained during the mass demonstrations, paying the administrative fines unlawfully imposed against them, and providing legal assistance, representation and other forms of support. The freezing of the organisations' bank accounts severely disrupts the organisations’ activities, leaving hundreds of beneficiaries, including those from vulnerable groups, without legal protection in both national and international courts, and rendering it impossible to pay salaries, office rents, and further expenses in support of victims of gross human rights violations.

The Observatory recalls that earlier this spring an investigation on similar allegations of “sabotage” was launched, leading to the freezing of bank accounts belonging to Human Right House Tbilisi, the Shame Movement, as well as several crowdfunding initiatives organised by well-known journalists, for providing protesters with financial, legal, and medical support. Although as of August 2025 no charges have been filed, the leaders of the organisations were subjected to interrogations and searches of their homes and offices, and some organisations, including Human Rights House Tbilisi, were forced to cease operations.

The freezing of the organisations’ bank accounts forms part of a systematic campaign targeting leading Georgian civil society organisations, including the Civil Society Foundation, Sapari, and the Social Justice Center. Thus, in addition to the bank account freezing, at least eight civil society organisations had already been targeted twice by the Georgian Anti-Corruption Bureau over the course of three months.

In June 2025, shortly after the end of the 10-days registration deadline provided under the newly adopted Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the Anti-Corruption Bureau proceeded to initiate inspections against eight prominent civil society organisations. Based on the Bureau’s motion, the Tbilisi City Court issued judicial orders against eight organisations obliging them to submit extensive information, including sensitive personal data of their beneficiaries, to the Anti-Corruption Bureau. While the Anti-Corruption Bureau based its initial requests on four laws – the Law on Combating Corruption, the Law on Political Associations, the Law “On Grants” and the FARA –, the Tbilisi City Court omitted the FARA as a legal basis, compelling disclosure solely under the other three laws. The Court also granted the Bureau’s request and obliged several banks to disclose all financial transactions received by the organisations over the same period. All targeted organisations publicly refused to provide personal information of their beneficiaries to the authorities, citing their obligations to ensure data confidentiality vis-à-vis their beneficiaries, and declared that they had partially destroyed sensitive information.

Subsequently, in mid-August 2025, overall six civil society organisations reported that they received letters from the Anti-Corruption Bureau, informing them that an inspection against their organisations had now been launched to investigate violations of the FARA, including their failure to register as “foreign agents”, as well as the destruction of beneficiary information.

The Observatory recalls that since April 2024, the Georgian authorities have massively intensified their crackdown on civil society and dissenting voices, notably by introducing legislation aimed at restricting human rights and civic space. This includes the adoption of the Law on “Transparency of Foreign Influence” in 2024, as well as the subsequent 2025 “Foreign Agents Registration Act” and the recent amendments to the Law “On Grants”, which are designed to stigmatise, defund and suppress civil society organisations and independent media.

The Observatory further recalls that amid the widespread violence used by law enforcement officers against protesters to repress the peaceful demonstrations against the adoption of the Law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence”, many protesters, human rights defenders and journalists were physically assaulted, including by law enforcement officers. Following the November 2024 elections, the Georgian Dream Party eventually announced the suspension of negotiations for accession to the European Union, which led to a new wave of protests that are still ongoing as of August 2025.

The Observatory strongly condemns the ongoing judicial harassment against human rights defenders and civil society organisations, which aims to punish them and criminalise their legitimate human rights activities in support of victims of police brutality and arbitrary detentions. The Observatory calls on the Georgian authorities to immediately stop the investigations, to unconditionally revoke the freezing of the bank accounts of the Civil Society Foundation, Sapari, the Social Justice Center and the other civil society organisations, and to respect in all circumstances the internationally recognised rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Georgia asking them to:

• Immediately and unconditionally unfreeze the bank accounts of the seven targeted civil society organisations, as well as the accounts of all other civil society organisations targeted previously;

• Immediately cease all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Civil Society Foundation, Sapari, Social Justice Center and all other civil society organisations and their representatives targeted by the Georgian authorities for their legitimate human rights work;

• Immediately repeal the Law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence”, the Foreign Agents Registration Act and the latest amendments to the Law “On Grants”, as well as all other laws that unduly restrict the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association, as enshrined in Articles 19 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Addresses:

• Mr. Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia. E-mail: info@gov.ge. X: @GovernmentGeo

• Mr. Gela Geladze, Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia. E-mail: police@mia.gov.ge. X: @MiaofGeorgia

• Mr. Giorgi Gvarakidze, Chief Prosecutor of Georgia. E-mail: presscenter@pog.gov.ge. X: @OfficialPOG)

• Mr. Shalva Papuashvili, Chair of Parliament of Georgia. E-mail: contact@parliament.ge X: @Geoparliament

• Mr. Levan Ioseliani, Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia. E-mail: info@ombudsman.ge

• Permanent Mission of Georgia to the United Nations in Geneva. E-mail: geomission.geneva@mfa.gov.ge

• Embassy of Georgia to Belgium, Luxembourg and Mission of Georgia to the European Union. E-mail: eomission.eu@mfa.gov.ge. Twitter: @GEOmissionEU

Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Georgia in your respective countries.

***

Paris-Geneva, 29 August 2025

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

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