A bipartisan group of 14 US senators warned in a letter to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze that the Caucasian country's plan to reintroduce a “Russian-style foreign agent law” could lead to a change in US policy towards Tbilisi. In the letter – sent on April 26 and received by Voice of America Radio; – the senators point out that they are “increasingly concerned that Georgia's transatlantic aspirations are being undermined”, writes BTA.
The letter was sent after the US Helsinki Commission called on Tbilisi's ruling party “Georgian Dream” withdraw the bill on “foreign agents” and called on Tbilisi to “deviate from this destructive path.“ Western governments and human rights groups have condemned the controversial “foreign agents“ of Georgia, which many say is a copy of a similar Russian law used to silence dissent in the Russian Federation.
Thousands of Georgians took to the streets to protest against the bill after the ruling party gave the initial green light for it, although on this occasion there were also fights in the parliament, recalls Radio Free Europe. (RFE).
When the bill was first brought up for debate last year, the text sparked mass protests, prompting the government to withdraw it.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, leader of the Georgian Dream parliamentary group, announced this month that the party plans to reintroduce the bill, which would oblige non-profit organizations and media that receive foreign funding and that engage in broadly defined “ political“ activities, to report their activities to the authorities, RFE states.
The law would introduce broad oversight powers for authorities and potential criminal penalties for undefined crimes. “Georgian Dream“ said the new bill was identical to the one withdrawn last year except for one change: the term “foreign agent” will be replaced by the words “organization advancing the interests of a foreign power”.
The U.S. senators in their letter rejected the Georgian government's claims that the law is equivalent to a U.S. law that requires U.S. citizens to register as foreign agents if they represent the interests of a foreign country in the United States.
„We must also make clear that the re-introduced Foreign Agents Act is not identical to any US law and will be used to silence the voices of civil society and the media, which play an important role in the advancement of democratic institutions of Georgia“, the senators wrote in the letter.
Former Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, chairman of "Georgian Dream", insisted on April 27 that the senators' letter was "based on misconceptions".
Garibashvili told journalists that it is extremely important to maintain communication with "European and American partners" so that "these misunderstandings can be removed". Representatives “Georgian dream“ insisted that the legislation was aimed at bringing transparency to a time of high tension. "Our country, unfortunately, still faces challenges. The main challenge is the foreign occupation of 20 percent of our country. Russian troops are standing in the occupied territory, but there are other risks in the country,” said Garibashvili.
Anti-Russian sentiment can often be strong in Georgia. Russian troops still control about a fifth of Georgia's territory. Most of it was seized during a blitzkrieg in 2008 that was ostensibly linked to secessionist efforts in two northeastern regions – Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The third reading of the bill is scheduled for May 17. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili told the BBC she would veto the bill if it was passed.