Pro-European protesters in Georgia, sentenced to prison. Repression against opposition intensifies
Protest against the draft law on “transparency of foreign influence”, after it was approved, in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 14, 2024., Photo: AA / Abaca Press / Profimedia
Georgian justice sentenced 11 people on Wednesday to two years of imprisonment who participated in the pro -European demonstrations that take place in this country in the Caucasus last year. These new convictions take place one day after similar ones, informs AFP, taken over by Agerpres.
Georgia, a former Soviet republic with political crises, has the official ambition to join the European Union, but the Georgian Dream Party is accused of its authoritarian drift detractors and that he wants to bring the country closer to Russia.
Authorities claim that they have not deviated from the country's European ambitions and accuse the opposition and Brussels of trying to destabilize Georgia and make a new front in front of Moscow.
On Wednesday, a court in the capital Tbilisi declared 11 people, including actor Andro Sişinadze, according to the Interpress Agency. These people were accused of “group actions that have undergone public order” during last year's anti -government manifestations. Each of these people was sentenced to two years in prison.
This decision takes place one day after the sentence of a Tbilisi court of eight other punishments of up to two and a half years in prison for similar charges.
It also occurs after a series of arrests of opposition leaders, human rights militants and journalists, a tendency that has aroused the concern of the West.
The anti -government manifestations continue regularly in Tbilisi, even though participation in them has diminished last year, when tens of thousands of people had come out after the October 2024 legislative elections, considered by fraudulent opposition.
Brussels has warned that the authorities compromised Georgia's candidacy for accession to the European Union (EU), aspiration that is inscribed in the Constitution of the country and which is supported, according to opinion polls, of about 80% of the population. The US and several European countries have imposed sanctions against some of the Georgian Dream Party.
