Zurabishvili: “We are Watching Our Democracy Being Dismantled in Real Time”, Urges Europe to Act

On April 9, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili addressed the Senate of the Czech Republic during her official visit to Czechia, delivering what she called “a warning and a call to action.”

In her speech, Zurabishvili accused the Georgian Dream government of driving the country toward authoritarianism, saying its repressive policies have pushed Georgia “close to 1937” — a reference to Stalinist purges — and toward a Russian-style autocracy.

Calling on Europe to go beyond symbolic gestures, she warned: “If we fail to defend Georgia today, we may wake up tomorrow in a very different Europe.” She emphasized that the current crisis is not just a domestic issue but a “European challenge… [challenge] to liberal democracy, to geopolitical stability, and to the EU’s global credibility.”

“We are watching our democracy dismantled before our eyes in real time,” Zurabishvili said. “Georgia is being transformed, not by tanks but by laws, laws of repression. Not overnight but step by step.”

April 9: A Day of Mourning and a Symbol of Resistance

In a powerful address on April 9 — a solemn date in Georgian history marking the Soviet crackdown on peaceful protesters in 1989 — Salome Zurabishvili urged European nations to recognize and react to what she described is a deliberate erosion of democracy in Georgia.

Zurabishvili opened with a moment of silence and drew a direct connection between the past and present, honoring the sacrifices of April 9 while invoking the current wave of civil resistance.

“Russian soldiers and tanks rolled into the center of Tbilisi… They used gas, clubs, and utmost violence… But the message of that night did not disappear. It ignited a national movement,” she said. “Now, 36 years later… Georgians are once again in the streets,” referring to the 133rd consecutive day of pro-EU protests against what she called a “creeping, silent coup against democracy and against independence.”

A “1937 Moment”

Zurabishvili painted a stark picture of democratic backsliding in Georgia, with systematic suppression of dissent, judicial capture, and the reintroduction of Soviet-era legal tools.

“Peaceful protesters are met with violence and arrests. Opposition parties face threats of interdiction and dissolution. Fines of tens and hundreds of thousands of euros are levied against citizens, NGOs, media, not for wrongdoing but for dissent,” she said.

She condemned the adoption of a controversial “foreign agents” law, calling it “a carbon copy of the Russian law that crushed civil society and media in Russia.” Zurabishvili also highlighted the reintroduction of state treason provisions in Georgian law.

• 01/04/2025 – GD Rubber Stamps FARA, Broadcasting Law Changes, Revives Treason, Removes Gender, Excludes CSOs

“We are close to 1937,” she warned. “Our institutions offer no longer any protection. The judiciary has become an instrument of the ruling party for repression… We are living through the birth of a one party system and behind it all, a single man, unaccountable and untouchable. The shadow of Russian style autocracy is rising over a once hopeful European democracy. And behind it all, the shadow of Russia.”

Europe’s Muted Response

President Salome Zurabishvili criticized what she called Europe’s muted response to Georgia’s political crisis,.

“And yet, the response from Europe, from the European Union, has been too quiet,” she said. Despite Georgia being granted EU candidate status in 2023, Zurabishvili said the West has failed to take meaningful action as democratic backsliding has accelerated.

She warned that the implications go beyond Georgia’s borders. “If democracy can be undone in Georgia in one year… then what does it say about democracy’s resilience? Should it be so easy to destroy it?” she asked. “If we allow this to happen, we send the message that democratic institutions are fragile, that autocrats can succeed if they move, and if they move cynically enough.“

Zurabishvili also stressed that if Georgia slips into authoritarianism and falls under Russian influence, it could undermine Europe’s strategic position in the region and damage its foreign policy agenda.

She said the challenge is thus threefold: a challenge to liberal democracy in Georgia and in Europe; a geopolitical challenge to the EU; and the challenge to Europe’s global credibility vis-a-vis Russia.

“If the European Union cannot protect the values it has spent decades promoting, if it cannot act to defend the very people and institutions that it helped build, if it cannot respond in clarity to a small, defiant state captured by corrupt elites and the Russian influence, then its foreign policy credibility is at risk,” she said. And, she added “so would be its defense agenda because rearmament without the will to act, without rapid decision-making, is just strategy on paper. It is not deterrence. It is not power.”

Russian Playbook and Need for European Action

Zurabishvili accused Russia of testing a new “hybrid strategy of silent conquest” in Georgia — one that avoids tanks and military force, instead using proxies, disinformation, and institutional capture.

“What it failed to do with tanks in 2008… it is now trying with a new formula,” she said. “This new playbook requires no army, just three ingredients: election manipulation, propaganda and disinformation, and a proxy oligarch to capture institutions from the inside.”

She warned that this model could spread throughout Europe: “If it works in Georgia… it can and will be copied elsewhere — Moldova, Romania, or even deeper into Europe — because it is cheap, it is quiet, and so far it has met no serious resistance from outside.”

“So what must be done?” asked Zurabishvili. “Europe must act now, not with words alone, but with a real counter-strategy.“

President concluded with a list of urgent recommendations for the EU and its allies, including political clarity, electoral protection, targeted financial sanctions, and vocal support for Georgian civil society.

“Fighting is for us to do and [it] will continue, but our partners should provide first electoral protection… Let the Georgian people… know that they are not alone,” she urged. “Defend the values you have invested in… If we let them be dismantled now, we send a signal to every autocrat in waiting.”

Final Appeal: “Stand With Us”

Addressing the Czech Senate in particular, Zurabishvili appealed to the Czech people’s own history of oppression and liberation.

“You have known occupation… You have known the long silence of oppression… You have shown the world what it means to break free,” she said. “We do not ask you to fight for us. But we do ask you to stand with us, to raise your voice, to speak with clarity, to act with purpose.”

“With today’s resolution, the Czech Senate is showing the example of support to the other European nations. And from me and from the Georgian population, I want to thank you for that.”

Also Read:

• 28/03/2025 – President Zurabishvili Concludes Baltic Tour with Visit to Estonia
• 25/03/2025 – “Existential Challenge” Looms over Georgia, President Zurabishvili Tells Lithuanian Seimas
• 20/03/2025 – Salome Zurabishvili Urges EU Leaders to Discuss Georgia at European Council Meeting
• 27/02/2025 – Zurabishvili Presents “Path to New Elections”
• 25/02/2025 – Salome Zurabishvili: “We Should not Allow Another 1921 to Happen”

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)