Explainer | Facing Resistance, Georgian Dream Rushes in Repressive Laws

The rump Georgian Dream parliament has rubber-stamped several legislative amendments to curtail dissent within the civil service and repress the mounting resistance to the GD’s usurpation of power and deviation from the European path. The amendments were made to the Criminal Code, the Administrative Offenses Code, the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations, and the Police and Civil Service Laws. These amendments were adopted through an urgent procedure but have not yet been enacted.

They significantly increase fines for protesters, make it easier to fire civil servants, expand the scope of political appointments in civil service, expand the scope for extrajudicial detention, restrict the sale and use of pyrotechnics, and simplify new recruitment into the police force.

Below are key legislative changes – harbingers of the GD government getting ready to tighten repression.

Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations

The amendments to the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations, adopted in the third hearing on December 13, expand the list of prohibited items during rallies while banning the covering of faces.

• Amendments to Article 11(2) of the LAD: According to the new draft law, the list of prohibited items now includes pyrotechnics, as well as lasers or similar light-emitting items that “can obstruct” the work of representatives of state bodies or technical means at their disposal.
• The amendment also bans “covering the face with a mask or by any other means.”

The restrictions follow lively protests in which demonstrators used green lasers and pyrotechnics in response to violent police dispersals, with many protesters covering their faces to protect themselves from police identification amid massive arbitrary arrests.

Administrative Offence Code

The amendments to the Administrative Offenses Code (AOC) passed in their final reading on December 13 significantly increase fines and penalties for various violations while sharply hiking fines for new restrictions under the amendments to the Law on Assemblies.

• Amendment to Article 135 of the AOC: Drivers who block traffic as part of a group protest will be fined GEL 1,000 (USD 350) and have their driver’s license suspended for one year.
• Amendment to Article 150 of the AOC: Fines for “making various types of inscriptions, drawings or symbols on building facades, shop windows, fences, pillars, trees or other plantings without authorization” – such as protest graffiti – increase from GEL 50 (USD 18) to GEL 1,000 (USD 350). Fines for repeating the same offense increase from GEL 500 (USD 180) to GEL 2,000 (USD 700). Fines for the same act committed on or near administrative buildings, including nearby sidewalks or road surfaces, increase from GEL 500 (USD 180) to GEL 2,000 (USD 700), while fines for repeating the offense increase from GEL 1,000 or administrative detention to GEL 3,000 or detention. Fines for similar acts committed in a cultural heritage zone also double from GEL 1,000 to GEL 2,000.
• Amendment to Article 166-2 AOC – on “vandalism” also increases a fine for intentional damage to infrastructure/inventory in public spaces, including road signs, surveillance cameras, traffic lights, or public transport from GEL 300 to GEL 1,000. Repeated offenses will carry a fine of GEL 2,000 or up to 15-day detention from previously set GEL 500 or detention for up to 5 days.
• Amendment to Article 172 AOC: Parents will now also be liable with fines up to GEL 100-300 (USD 35-105) if minors violate the rules on purchase/use of fireworks (Article 156(4) AOC) or disobey police orders (Article 173 AOC). The law already provides fines for other offenses minors commit, including vandalism or hooliganism. Disobeying police orders has been one of the mostly cited grounds for blanket arrests during recent protests.
• Amendment to Article 174-1(4) AOC – the amendments significantly increase fines for violations during assemblies/demonstrations. The fines for violations of Article 9 of the Assembly Law, which restricts holding assemblies in or blocking access to certain public and administrative buildings, as well as Articles 11 and 11-1, which restrict carrying prohibited items such as flammable materials, weapons or pyrotechnics, plus deliberately blocking traffic, will increase from the existing GEL 500 or up to 15 days of administrative detention to GEL 5,000 or up to 15-day detention. For organizers, the fines will triple from GEL 5,000 (or up to 15 days’ detention) to GEL 15,000 (or up to 15 days’ detention).
• The amendment to the same article also adds fines for the newly introduced violations of the Assembly Law, with fines of GEL 2,000 for carrying lasers or covering faces during rallies.
• Amendment to Article 244 AOC—The amendment expands the police’s scope for arbitrary detention, including allowing detention to “timely” bring the offender to court or to “prevent” the offender from protracting court proceedings, from avoiding participation in administrative proceedings, or from repeating an administrative offense. In addition to detention, the law allows for individual inspection or the inspection or confiscation of personal objects and documents in the above-listed cases without a court order. Previously, only superficial inspection was allowed without a necessary order, except in hot pursuit situations.

Police Law

• Amendments to the Police Law, adopted in the final reading on December 13, introduce a provision in Article 37 (4) that allows the Minister of Interior to establish rules for recruiting the police without a competitive process, which was previously mandatory. It is feared that the new provision will be used to recruit people with questionable backgrounds, including thugs sponsored by Georgian Dream, into the police force.

Crackdown on the sale and use of pyrotechnics

Intensive use of fireworks in the first days of Georgian protests amid riot police dispersals and as a symbol of resistance led the Georgian Dream to introduce multi-layered restrictions on the sale, purchase, and use of pyrotechnics.

• The Law on Product Safety and Free Circulation was amended to allow the import, export, production, and realization of pyrotechnics only to those with a special license. It also allows only those with specialized knowledge to purchase and use the pyrotechnics of “special categories.”
• In addition, provisions have been added to the Administrative Offence Code which provides for heavy fines (GEL 2,000-6,000) for violations of both export/import/production/sale and purchase/storage/use of pyrotechnics (Article 156-2-3-4 of the AOC).

Law on Civil Service

The Law on Civil Service has been substantively amended following the multiple petitions of civil servants who spoke against the GD decision to deviate from EU accession. These changes must be read in the context of GD PM Irakli Kobakhidze and GD Secretary-General Kakha Kaladze’s references to the “self-cleansing” of civil service, as more and more civil servants issued pro-EU statements.

• Department heads and deputy heads will no longer be considered civil servants but will be “administratively contracted,” an euphemism for political appointees. The amendment contradicts the principle of “professional and independent public administration,” which was the driving element of the 2015 Law on Civil Service and was adopted in line with the EU Association criteria.
• Requalifying these mid-level officials means significant limitations to their job security and subordination to political will. They can be fired with 1 month’s notice without redress. The new appointments will no longer be based on competition. Their terms of service are to be synchronized with those of top-level political appointees (e.g., if the Minister leaves, heads and deputy heads of departments are dismissed, too), highlighting the political nature of the appointments and undermining the stability of civil service.
• Performance evaluations will be conducted twice a year instead of previously foreseen annual evaluations. The head of the ministry or agency will be authorized to change the performance evaluation grade delivered by the immediate manager within a month. Unsatisfactory performance evaluation leads to a 20% pay cut. Two unsatisfactory performance evaluations lead to dismissal without limited legal recourse. This modification fundamentally modifies the performance evaluation process from being a performance management tool to an administrative/punitive measure. By placing the evaluation in the hands of political appointees, it becomes a political pressure tool.
• According to the law, the “reorganization” forms the grounds for redundancies and subsequent re-hiring or re-assignment to equivalent posts in the same or other departments. This provision was intended to serve as a tool for horizontal mobility and promote the notion of unified civil service in accordance with OECD/SIGMA European Public Administration standards. The amendments widen the scope of “reorganization” to include simple re-assignment of duties. The legal challenge to redundancies declared as a result of reorganization would no longer stay the execution of the reorganization. A civil servant whose legal challenge is accepted by courts as valid will no longer have to be reinstated.

What Now?

The laws, most of which are scheduled to take effect in the first months of 2025, have yet to be signed by the president. It is not known whether they have been sent to President Salome Zurabishvili for signature, or whether they will await the inauguration of Mikheil Kavelashvili on December 29. Kavelashvili, who was elected president in a unanimous single-party vote, is widely seen as illegitimate.

Either way, the laws are not expected to be enacted until the final days of 2024. The amendments complete other repressive laws passed by Georgian Dream in 2024, including the Foreign Agents Law and the Anti-LGBT Law, two pieces of repressive legislation that have yet to be strictly enforced.

Also Read:

• Georgian Dream’s Oppressive Anti-LGBT Law Comes into Effect
• Liveblog: Resistance
• 2024 | Chronicle of Repression