Georgian government: "The Venice Commission distorts facts and encourages radicals"
Georgian Dream response to the Venice Commission
In response to the Venice Commission’s opinion on the “foreign agents bill” in Georgia published today, the ruling party “Georgian Dream” accuses the commission of distorting facts and encouraging radicals.
Salome Kurasbediani, a member of the parliamentary majority, articulated the ruling party’s position during a special briefing.
“The Venice Commission’s opinion has once again confirmed that there are no legal or other arguments against the Georgian law on transparency of foreign influence.
The Venice Commission’s opinion contains numerous unsubstantiated and contradictory legal arguments, as well as several gross distortions of facts, which further encourage the radicalization of certain groups.
It is very unfortunate that the platform of the Venice Commission has been used to deliver biased political evaluations instead of professional judgments, which repeatedly damages the reputation of the Venice Commission.
Ultimately, the Venice Commission was even compelled to state that the transparency of NGOs and the media is bad and undemocratic. Naturally, this undermines trust in this organization and the values it is supposed to uphold,” stated Salome Kurasbediani.
In its opinion, the Venice Commission strongly recommends that the Georgian authorities “repeal the law in its current form.”
The Commission emphasizes that the current form of the law contains fundamental flaws that will have significant negative consequences for freedom of association and expression, privacy, and participation in public affairs, and will also create conditions for discrimination.
The Commission’s opinion also states that the law, allegedly aimed at ensuring transparency, objectively leads to the risk of stigmatization, silencing, and ultimately, the elimination of organizations and media that receive even a small portion of their funding from abroad.
