GEORGIA: Laws Against Demonstrators & more – 16th Oct 2025

Gamarjobat from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Georgia Update from the 16th of October twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Georgia.

The Georgian Dream, or the Kotsebi, is once again passing stricter laws aimed directly at demonstrators. This time they are introducing a fifteen-day mandatory administrative imprisonment for actions like wearing masks or any face covering during demonstrations, blocking roads completely or partially, and carrying pepper spray during demonstrations. If the accused repeats the offense within a year, they will be sentenced to one year in prison.

Administrative imprisonment has been employed before as well, but for most cases, judges preferred to fine offenders 5,000 Lari, which is over 1,800 Dollars. This fine was also introduced at the beginning of the year specifically to target demonstrators. However, on Tuesday, the 14th, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhdize said that the fines were not completely effective, so they decided to change and update administrative and criminal law.

On the same day, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia must pay Georgia over 253 million euros for human rights violations after the two thousand eight war between the two countries. The ruling focuses on Russia’s borderization in Georgia’s occupied regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where fences and barriers erected by their forces cut people off from their homes, farms, and families. More than 29,000 people will receive compensation.

The court said Russia used excessive force, detained people illegally, and blocked access to education in Georgian. It called the borderization one of the most painful legacies of the war and confirmed that Russia violated human rights, including life, freedom, property, education, and movement.

Last week, we reported that protests organized by the United National Movement, or Natsebi, and people affiliated with them tried to storm the presidential palace on the 4th of October, the day of the municipal elections. The ruling party called it an attempt to overthrow the legitimate government, while other opposition parties were quick to distance themselves from the event, with former president, Salome Zurabishvili, calling it a provocation and a farce which would only empower the ruling party for further repressions.

While the organizers were quickly arrested, the arrest of other participants continued throughout the week. Authorities said that they were processing the video footage and identifying perpetrators. So far forty-five people have been arrested, but this number might increase.

Speaking of the municipal elections, Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’ dictator, congratulated Georgia’s ruling party for conducting successful elections and achieving an impressive victory. Lukashenko said that the Kotsebi’s win shows how responsible, reliable and professional their team is. He also praised them for strengthening the country's sovereignty and consolidating the society, saying that Belarus aims to deepen friendly ties and cooperation with Georgia.

In other news. On Monday, the 13th, the State Security Service carried out a major counterterrorism operation in the Adjara region, western Georgia. They conducted raids at five locations and arrested three Georgian citizens. Authorities say the suspects were members of a radical Islamic group and had contact with senior leaders of the Islamic State abroad. They allegedly planned to help bring Islamic State members illegally into Georgia and use the country as a base for future operations, providing shelter and logistics.

During the raids, officers seized explosives, large amounts of ammunition and weapons, military gear and cash in several currencies.

The State Security Service also said it had opened an investigation into possible sabotage after pro-government TV channel Imedi went off the air. The channel’s broadcast stopped for forty-five minutes around 6pm on Monday, the 13th. During the same period, two other companies in the same media holding, Maestro and GDS, also experienced outages.

Imedi says it is investigating the cause and has reported the incident to law enforcement, suggesting the possibility of a criminal act targeting the channel.

On that note about crime, the police arrested two people for attacking and causing serious injuries to three Polish citizens. The attack happened on Wednesday, the 8th, at a restaurant in Tbilisi. CCTV footage of the incident shows one of the attackers introducing themselves, shaking hands with one of the victims and acting friendly, before the scene quickly turns into a chaotic brawl.

Later, it turned out that the Polish citizens were officers of the Polish border guard, who were in Tbilisi as part of the mission to deport several Georgians back to their homeland. Both local and Polish news outlets shared this news.

Check out the video with the link in the Show Notes.

Levan Ioseliani, Georgia’s public defender, got involved in a dispute with a Tbilisi gym this week. A Russian citizen complained to his office after Reformer Fitness refused to give him membership because he wouldn’t sign a paper confirming respect for Georgia’s and Ukraine’s sovereignty. Ioseliani’s office asked the gym to provide documentation and explain the policy.

Giorgi Futkaradze, the gym’s director, responded publicly, saying they have refused service to Russian citizens, since Russia invaded Ukraine, unless they sign the statement. He added that they also don’t serve Georgian police officers who serve a violent regime and that no law can force them to serve anyone they don’t want.

Futkaradze said he doesn’t care if the policy is called discrimination, segregation, or stigma, and that they remain firm in their rules and public stance.

The OSCE delegation, led by its current chair, Elina Valtonen, who is also the Foreign Minister of Finland, visited Georgia on Tuesday the 14th and Wednesday the 15th, for some meetings. The delegation visited the conflict line between Georgia and South Ossetia and held a meeting with Georgia's Foreign Minister.

After official meetings, Valtonen attended a pro-European demonstration on Rustaveli Avenue and shared a video on Twitter saying Georgian citizens are concerned about the direction the country is headed toward. The next day, members of the ruling party criticized her for attending what they called an illegal protest. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said he canceled their meeting because of it, but Finnish media later reported that Valtonen had already canceled the meeting herself the night before.

The police fined Valtonen 5,000 Lari (1,800 dollars) for blocking the road

Police arrested a man in Zugdidi, western Georgia, at a driving examination center. Apparently, this person had already tried and failed to pass the driving test six times and after the final failure, he refused to get out of the car and threatened the instructor with a knife. Fortunately, no one was injured, the police arrested the criminal, and he now faces one year in prison.

In more news this week, a fifteen-year-old Georgian boy got arrested twice in Berlin in one week. First, he crashed the car he was driving and tried to run away along with his thirty-three-year-old passenger, but witnesses stopped them. Police found stolen jewelry, handbags, wallets, and bank cards in the car. Authorities handed the boy to youth services for supervision, but he did not stay there for long. A few days later, police went to his apartment and found three adults there. One, a forty-five-year-old, turned out to be his accomplice. The other two — two men from Moldova — were victims of kidnappings. Authorities are now investigating the boy and the adults for kidnapping.

Finally, some cultural news. Turkish archaeologists have discovered the tomb of Georgian King Ashot I the Great beneath Petrus and Paulus Church in Gevhernik Fortress, which is known as Artanuji Fortress in Georgia, high in the mountains of northeastern Turkey. The vaulted stone chamber, about two meters (6.5 feet) long and 1.8 meters (six feet) wide, was empty, but its location and design match medieval Georgian records, providing the first archaeological proof of Ashot’s burial site.

Excavations carried out by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Van Yüzüncü Yıl University also uncovered a communal kitchen, water cisterns, coins, ceramics, and weapons, showing the fortress had a permanent settlement.

Ashot expanded the fifth-century fortress in the ninth century, turning it into an administrative center for his kingdom. Artifacts will be displayed at the Artvin Museum in northeastern Turkey.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Nakhvamdis!