A new Amnesty International report documents what it describes as one of the most serious erosions of human rights in Georgia since independence, as the ruling party tightens its grip amid public anger over its stance on Russia and the European Union.

A system built for repression

The report, titled Anatomy of Repression, Georgia, 500 Days of Protest, Crackdown and Resilience, documents how the governing Georgian Dream party has used disinformation to justify crackdowns and smear critics, abused its parliamentary majority to fast track repressive laws, instrumentalised courts and police against opponents, and brutally suppressed protests, in what amounts to the effective criminalisation of peaceful dissent. Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, described Georgia’s experience over the past three years as a cautionary tale of how quickly state institutions can be turned into tools for entrenching power.

Since 2022, the government has responded to growing protest over its approach to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the prospect of EU accession by portraying critics in politics, civil society and the media as foreign backed agents, traitors and radicals. A series of laws, including the May 2024 Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, the April 2025 Foreign Agents Registration Act, and amendments to the Law on Grants, the Administrative Offences Code and the Law on Political Associations, have subjected foreign funded organisations engaged in broadly defined political activities to onerous registration and monitoring requirements, with the threat of asset freezes, criminal investigation and imprisonment. As a result, dozens of civil society organisations have been forced to downsize, suspend operations, or run on a voluntary basis, including the Social Justice Centre, whose director, Tamta Mikeladze, described the effective destruction of her organisation after its accounts were frozen. The journalist Mariam Nikuradze said it has never been more dangerous to work as a journalist in Georgia, citing threats spanning physical and digital security, prosecution, government smear campaigns and financial pressure.

Three years of protest and punishment

The reintroduction of the foreign influence law in April 2024 triggered mass protests that were met with a brutal response, including beatings, tear gas, water cannons and the unlawful use of rubber bullets, often without warning. Further protests followed contested parliamentary election results in October 2024 and the announcement the following month of a four year pause in EU accession talks. Protesters described being trapped by police cordons, forced through what they called beating corridors, and subjected to torture or other ill treatment in detention.

One protester, Aleksandre Tirkia, was 22 when he was struck in the head by a tear gas canister during a demonstration in Tbilisi on 3 December 2024, suffering multiple skull and facial fractures, a brain injury and severe damage to his left eye. He described being surrounded on all sides when the canister hit him, with the pain so severe that the moment itself disappeared from his memory. Data from the ombudsman’s office shows that between 78% and 88% of those detained by security forces in 2024 and 2025 reported ill treatment. In November 2024 alone, more than 300 detained protesters reported serious physical abuse, with more than 80 requiring hospital treatment for concussions, fractures and broken bones. Police also used gender based violence extensively against women involved in the protests, including sexist insults, threats of sexual violence and unlawful strip searches.

Courts that punish, police that walk free

Courts have been used to rubber stamp prosecutors’ cases against protesters, with judges imposing heavy fines, administrative detention and prison sentences following unfair trials. More than 150 people remain unjustly detained. In December 2024, protesters were fined 5,000 lari, or around 1,800 dollars, more than twice the average monthly salary, simply for standing in the road during a demonstration. By December 2025, similar fines were being applied to those merely standing on pavements. The teacher and activist Gota Chanturia faces fines totalling around 130,000 dollars for taking part in peaceful protests, leaving her unable to earn a living, with her bank accounts frozen and the constant threat of arrest and loss of her home.

Accountability for police has been almost entirely absent. Hundreds of protesters have appeared before judges bearing visible injuries and raising allegations of torture, with no effect. It was only in May 2026, after independent television reporting exposed alleged abuses, that five police officers were charged with abuse of power for assaulting protesters, the only case of its kind so far. Amnesty International is calling on Georgia’s authorities to repeal the laws restricting freedom of expression, association and assembly, release those detained solely for exercising their rights, restore judicial independence, ensure fair retrials, investigate all allegations of torture and provide reparations, and is urging the international community to support documentation, investigation and prosecution of these violations at the domestic, regional and international levels.

Sources: Amnesty International, report Anatomy of Repression, Georgia, 500 Days of Protest, Crackdown and Resilience.