Opponents of Georgia's "foreign agent" bill face threats and insults via phone calls

Opponents of Georgia’s “foreign agents” bill threatened

In Georgia, social media is flooded with reports that civil activists, journalists, opposition politicians, and representatives of non-governmental organizations, who oppose the “foreign agent” bill, are receiving threatening and insulting phone calls.

Such calls have been reported since May 7, originating from foreign numbers. The targets of these unknown callers are individuals openly protesting against the government-initiated bill, which has already been passed by parliament in two readings, sparking protests in Tbilisi for three weeks.

On May 8, the calls intensified, mainly originating from Georgian numbers. Several people recorded these calls and posted them on Facebook.

Investigative journalist Nino Zuriashvili writes that she has been receiving calls from unknown numbers for two days straight. She believes that the callers likely obtained the number database from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

• “Building a database of violent individuals,”- the speaker of Georgian Parliament
• “The statements made by the ruling party in Georgia amount to a rejection of NATO and the EU.” Opinion

“Most likely, this database was obtained from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as from several calls, it was clear that the callers knew citizens’ personal information,” says Zuriashvili.

Natia Kuprashvili, the director of the “Alliance of Regional Broadcasters,” also received threatening calls, which she shared on Facebook. Kuprashvili told JAMnews that she received four calls:

“The first call came from a Ukrainian number. They asked: why do you call this law Russian? They spoke vulgarly. Then, at three in the morning, there was a call from a number with the code of the Republic of Chad. Later , in the morning, from a German number. And finally, in the evening, a call came from a Georgian number with a threat: we are standing outside your house, and you must come down. They knew my address and my mother’s address.

Amid all this, the parliamentary speaker promises to compile a list of critics of the bill. All this is a bad sign. I’m not going to address the Ministry of Internal Affairs in person. I don’t see the point in doing so. Everything is already public; we have publicly written and told about the calls and threats we receive. If they want, they can conduct an investigation.”

Popular Georgian YouTuber Giorgi Makharashvili also posted a recording of a threatening and abusive call. In the recording, an unknown person insults and berates Makharashvili, questioning why he refers to the law on foreign influence transparency as a “Russian law.”

The ruling party, “Georgian Dream,” first initiated the “Foreign Agents” bill a year ago, in March 2023. Parliament passed it in the first reading, but due to mass citizen protests and sharp criticism from the West, the bill was withdrawn.

On April 3, 2024, it was announced that “Georgian Dream” decided to reintroduce it with the same content, but now it’s called the “Transparency of Foreign Influence” bill.

This time, protests against the bill are more widespread. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in protest. Georgia’s Western partners strongly criticize the bill and openly warn the government that its adoption will create serious problems for Georgia’s integration into Europe. However, despite all this, the bill has already passed in two readings, and on May 17, parliament plans to pass it in the third reading.

Opponents of Georgia’s “foreign agents” bill threatened