Ivanishvili's lawyer on the law “on foreign agents”: Why was the law necessary?

Ivanishvili’s lawyer on foreign agent law

Bidzina Ivanishvili’s lawyer Viktor Kifiani said on Imedi radio that it was not necessary to initiate the law “on foreign agents”, which caused such a furore. As Kifiani believes, the legal content of the bill is rather painless, “and it has been said more than once” that it will not cause much damage to the non-governmental sector — there was no talk of restrictions on activities or other restrictions:

“It was necessary to explain the context… If we say that this bill provoked a strong reaction both inside the country and outside it, work had to be done on both sides. From a legal point of view and legal content, the law is absolutely harmless. Then I would like to ask a rhetorical question: for what purpose was the bill initiated? If no material, tangible results are achieved with its help, then why was it necessary to initiate this law and kindle such passions?”

“Like in business, SWOT analysis has its pros and cons. The authors of the bill should have at least listed the pros and cons of initiating this bill. In my opinion, it would be more negative,” Kifiani believes.

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The parliamentary majority rejected the widely-abhorred “Russian law” on foreign agents in its second reading.

Dmitry Khundadze, one of the authors of the bill, says that by not passing this law, society “missed an opportunity.” On the morning of March 9, the ruling Georgian Dream party announced the withdrawal of the Russian draft law on the transparency of foreign influence.