On May 14, 2025, civil society organizations presented a documentation report: "Human Rights Crisis in Georgia Following the 2024 Parliamentary Elections." The report covers severe and systemic human rights violations that occurred between November 28, 2024, and February 28, 2025, which were committed with the aim of suppressing peaceful and legitimate protest.
Eleven civil society organizations participated in the preparation of this documentation report. The documentation is based on both public information and evidence provided by protest participants and victims of violence, as well as in-depth interviews conducted with them.
As part of the documentation process, interviews were conducted with 117 individuals, of whom 77.7% (91) indicated that they were subjected to violence and ill-treatment by the police. The forms of police violence described in the report, their intensity, consistency, and scale indicate the widespread and systemic nature of torture and ill-treatment.
In addition, the report reviews cases of unlawful and disproportionate violations of freedom of assembly. Along with physical violence, police forces intensively used active special means, the use of which was often life-threatening and dangerous to health.
The report also analyzes actions directed against freedom of expression and the media. It is noteworthy that the media became a special target of police violence, which is incited by the "Georgian Dream" party's discrediting campaigns against the media and the impunity for crimes committed against media representatives. The report documents 108 cases of violence against media representatives.
The report also identifies the practice of instrumentalizing administrative and criminal justice against protest. Administrative justice has been systematically used to unjustifiably punish protest participants, including, frequently, victims of police violence, by imposing unsubstantiated administrative liability on them.
It is noteworthy that numerous criminal cases are also being actively considered in court, related to activists detained during the April-May and, subsequently, November-December 2024 protests. The use of criminal arrests in connection with protest activities has effectively criminalized peaceful protest and restricted freedom of assembly. As of February 2025, more than 60 people face criminal prosecution. Of these, 10 individuals are charged in connection with the spring 2024 protests, while 52 people are charged in relation to the November-February 2024-2025 protests.
The documentation report also reviews other methods of repression: cases of forced disappearances, illegal practices of searching residential and work spaces and personal searches, discriminatory dismissal of public servants, and abuse of legislative powers.
Furthermore, the report analyzes the responsibility of specific agencies and high-ranking officials in systematic repression. The lack of effective response to severe human rights violations, ineffective investigation, biased judicial authority, clear and open support/incitement of violence by high-ranking officials, as well as new repressive legislative initiatives, indicate that the methods of restricting human rights and violently suppressing protest are systemic and involve all three branches of government captured by "Georgian Dream." Impunity at both institutional and individual levels is further fueled by ineffective investigations and completely destroys trust in Georgia's justice system.
/public/upload/0IDFI/Human Rights Crisis In Georgia ENG.pdf
Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA)
Human Rights Center (HRC)
Democracy Research Institute (DRI)
Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)
Partnership for Human Rights (PHR)
International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)
Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI)
Social Justice Center (SJC)
Rights Georgia (RG)
Women's Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG)
Georgian Centre for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (GCRT)
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