The third separate lawsuit against the foreign agents law is to be submitted to the Constitutional Court as opposition MPs, except for [the parliamentary] Girchi party, are seeking to have the court declare the law unconstitutional.
“Fighting is always worth it… In any case, we will repeal this law. A new government will throw it in the trash, but a person should always exercise the right provided by the Constitution,” said Roman Gotsiridze, the leader of the Euro-Optimists parliamentary group, one of the author of the opposition MP’s lawsuit.
Parliamentary Girchi is the only opposition force in the legislature that stood aside the others and did not join the collective efforts. “I don’t believe in the independence of the Constitutional Court,” said Iago Khvichia, the party’s leader, adding: “We should be surprised by the optimism of the others, [as] our pessimism regarding this case is very understandable to the Georgian population.”
On July 16, President Salome Zurabishvili appealed to the Constitutional Court to repeal the law. She was followed by 121 civil society and media organizations who filed a separate lawsuit against the law with the Constitutional Court. In addition to the repeal of the law, they are seeking the suspension of the law’s unconstitutional clauses pending the court’s final ruling.
In all of separate lawsuits, the stakeholders focus on Article 78 of the Georgian Constitution, which obliges all bodies to do everything possible for the country’s integration into the EU and NATO, as well as other constitutional rights. The law is being challenged in light of the visible deterioration of the country’s relations with the West.
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- 05/07/2024 – BREAKING: U.S. ‘Indefinitely’ Postpones Noble Partner Exercise in Georgia
Efforts against the law are unlikely to stop for the time being with civil society and media organizations preparing a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights.
Mtis Ambebi, an online media outlet, is also preparing a separate, fourth lawsuit against the law in the Constitutional Court, Gela Mtivlishvili, editor-in-chief of the outlet, told TV Pirveli.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, in line with the ruling party’s dubbing of the law as the “Transparency Law,” is adamant that “the lawsuit against transparency cannot have any legal or other perspective.” He cynically noted, however, that by appealing to the Constitutional Court, President Zurabishvili, once found guilty of violating the Constitution, had recognized the legitimacy of the Court.
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