EU Urges Georgia to ‘Immediately’ Unfreeze CSOs’ Bank Accounts
The European Union urged Georgian authorities to “immediately” reverse their decision to freeze the bank accounts of seven civil society organizations, calling the move “another assault on fundamental rights” and “an act of political persecution.”
The statement came two days after Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office announced the asset freeze as part of a sabotage investigation, accusing the CSOs of funding protesters “who committed violent acts against law enforcement” during the 2024 rallies and citing purchases of protective gear and what it called “financial patronage” of protesters and their families.
“This is another assault on fundamental rights and a weaponization of the justice system as a tool of repression — an act of political persecution through deliberate financial suffocation, intended to silence and punish dissenting voices,” EU Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Anitta Hipper said in the August 29 statement.
Stressing that the CSOs are “not enemies” of the state but the “backbone of democratic pluralism and accountability,” the EU statement added that their targeting “contradicts fundamental democratic values and undermines the basic principles expected of a candidate country.”
“The European Union stands firmly with Georgia’s resilient and brave civil society, which continues to serve the citizens despite growing repression by the authorities.”
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- 29/08/2025 – 18 Respirators, 20 Goggles: TV Imedi’s ‘Exclusives’ Air CSOs’ Spending in ‘Sabotage’ Probe