The Daily Beat: 23 March
On Saturday, as anti-regime protests reached their 115th day, several thousand demonstrators gathered, carrying Georgian and American flags, to march to the Parliament. They were rallying in support of the MEGOBARI Act, a bipartisan bill scheduled to be heard in the U.S. Senate on March 27. This bill proposes sanctions against the Georgian Dream government due to human rights abuses and its efforts to undermine democracy. On this and other resistance-related matters, follow our live blog.
Since the protests began on November 28, 17 journalists have been fined GEL 5,000 (about USD 1,800) each for blocking roads, according to the Center for Media, Information, and Social Studies (CMIS). CMIS also reports 124 incidents involving 147 journalists targeted at pro-EU rallies, resulting in 24 reporters being injured, fined, prosecuted, or having their equipment damaged multiple times.
The Berlin court rejected the authorities’ dismissal of two Georgian refugee applications, stating that Georgia is not a “safe country of origin.” This was announced on March 21. Germany classified Georgia as a safe country in December 2023, defining such countries as those without state persecution and where citizens are protected.
A U.S. federal jury has convicted Georgian citizen Polad Omarov, 40, for his role in an Iranian government-backed plot to assassinate Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad in New York. Omarov was found guilty alongside Iranian national Rafat Amirov, 46, on multiple charges, including murder-for-hire. The assassination plot was orchestrated in exchange for $500,000.
The Georgian Dream government has allocated GEL 43,035,000 (about USD 15.5 million) to the Patriarchate’s educational institutions and granted an additional GEL 12,500 (around USD 4,500) to the Tbilisi Theological Academy. The Georgian Patriarchate and its clergy are often viewed as strong supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party.
On March 21, the foreign ministry reported that Georgia appointed new ambassadors to Austria, Belarus, the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, and Uzbekistan. For more information about the new ambassadorial appointments, please click here.
The Council of Europe’s latest report on the execution of ECtHR judgments reveals that in 2024, the Committee of Ministers, responsible for overseeing the execution of court rulings, received 13 new cases against Georgia for supervision – a slight decrease from 15 in 2023 but higher than the 10 cases in 2022.
The Data of the Day
The preliminary data released by the National Statistics Office (Geostat) on March 21 suggests that Georgia’s real GDP increased by 8.3% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2024, reaching GEL 25 310 billion (around USD 9.01 billion).
According to Geostat, growth was observed in several sectors, including information and communication (29.7%), education (36.2%), public administration and defense (19.9%), compulsory social security (19.9%), human health and social work activities (23.6%), agriculture, forestry, and fishing (9.4%), and construction (7.4%).