At a meeting of the Legal Committee on Legal Affairs of the Parliament of Georgia on March 6, a clash broke out between members of the party in power and representatives of the opposition. The deputies considered controversial bills on “foreign agents”, comparing them with the rigid legislation of Russia.
At the same time, a mass protest action was held under the walls of this administrative building in Tbilisi. Video from the scene shared by Georgian journalists Twitter (to view, make the news to the end).
It is noted that the fight in Parliament arose between the head of the legal committee and a member of the ruling Georgian Dream, Anri Okhanashvili, and the head of the United National Movement, Levan Khabeishvili. The opposition strongly opposes the adoption of this draft law.
Many Georgians do not share this either. On Monday, they staged a protest: people gathered at the walls of the parliament with the flags of the European Union and Georgia, played the EU anthem. There were a lot of police patrolling nearby, and limited access to the building was introduced.
The participants of the action chose the main slogan – “No to the Russian law in Georgia”. Many held posters depicting Russian dictator Putin and Irakli Kobakhidze, head of Georgia’s ruling party that supports the passage of the law on “foreign agents.”
According to Novosti-Georgia, hearings on two versions of the future law on “foreign agents” started in the legal committee after they were approved last Friday by the defense and international relations committees.
EU Ambassador Pavel Gerchinsky said that such an initiative contradicts at least two of the 12 recommendations for obtaining EU candidate status. Serious concern has already been expressed several times by the US State Department. Several hundred non-governmental organizations and media in Georgia signed a statement against the adoption of such a law in the country.
Both projects were initiated by the Power of the People movement: the first is called “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence” and concerns only non-governmental organizations and media receiving foreign funding, and the second – “On the Registration of Foreign Agents” affects both individuals and legal entities with a number of exceptions.
It is assumed that the drafts will be considered in the first reading next week. Then the ruling Georgian party promises to send both options to Venice for examination.
As GLOBAL HAPPENINGS reported, the Georgian Parliament proposed to reduce the validity of visas for Russian citizens in order to reduce the migration flow. Russians, along with their families, continue to arrive in the country, fleeing the mobilization announced by the Kremlin.
Source: Obozrevatel
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