Georgian authorities want to further toughen punishment for protesters
The Georgian Dream, the ruling political party in Georgia, has announced additional restrictions on protests and the toughening of penalties.
According to Novosti-Gruzia (News-Georgia) with reference to Mamuka Mdinaradze, the executive secretary of the Georgian Dream party, among the changes the party wants to adopt are a ban on holding protests and meetings in closed premises without the prior consent of the owner, increased fines and arrests for offences under administrative law for disorderly conduct and vandalism, disobedience towards police demands and verbal abuse of police, as well as blocking entrances to court buildings.
They also want to increase the penalties for verbal abuse towards politicians and officials "related to their activities".
They want to introduce a new sanction in the Criminal Code in the form of imprisonment for up to three years for "public incitement to violence".
There are proposals to increase the sentences for resisting police, threatening to use or using force against law enforcement officers, and to qualify these actions as serious crimes.
It is proposed that the penalties for attacks on police officers, civil servants or members of their families be increased if these actions are committed by a group of people, repeatedly or "in a dangerous manner".
The Georgian Dream wants to increase the punishment for harming the health of police officers.
The maximum arrest period for offences under administrative law is to be increased to 60 days.
Prior to this, the Georgian Dream adopted several repressive laws in December 2024. Among other things, protesters were banned from covering their faces.
On Sunday, 2 February 2025, more than 30 people, including some opposition leaders, were detained during the protests in Tbilisi. One of them, Nika Melia, was later released.
Media outlets posted footage of people being severely beaten after their detention.
Last week, the EU suspended the visa-free regime for holders of Georgia's diplomatic and service passports. This step will be rather symbolic, as Georgian officials hold ordinary passports in addition to diplomatic ones. The visa-free regime will continue to apply to them.