The U.S. Embassy in Georgia published a critical statement on 7 September in response to Parliament’s decision to override President Salome Zurabishvili’s veto of the controversial surveillance law which emphasized that the decision “moves Georgia away from European integration, not towards it.”
“Parliament’s decision to intentionally pass wiretapping legislation that expands the government’s ability to monitor its citizens does not comply with European standards,” the U.S. Embassy denoted and added that the changes are “against the clear recommendations of the Venice Commission and Western partners.”
Yesterday, as the ruling party spearheaded the effort in Parliament to override the veto, the President’s Parliamentary Secretary, Giorgi Mskhiladze said the vote was “undermining Georgia’s democratic future” and decried the vote taking place at the moment when the EU-Georgia Association Council meeting was taking place in Brussels, attended by PM Irakli Garibashvili.
The amendments in question extended the maximum surveillance period from six to nine months and made it possible to carry out covert investigative activities in connection with an additional 27 offenses. In reference to 77 offenses, the obligation to notify an individual subject of spying may be delayed for years. At the time of her veto, President Zurabishvili stated “There can be no law passed these days that further restrict human rights, when on the contrary we are asked to give more guarantees in this direction, to be more democratic, more European.”
The Venice Commission, an advisory body to the Council of Europe, published an Urgent Opinion on the bill following the President’s veto which criticized the law’s adoption in a “hasty procedure” and urged authorities to re-examine the legislation.
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