Tblisi court docket sentences opposition determine Nika Gvaramia to eight months and bans him from holding workplace for 2 years.
A court docket in Georgia has sentenced distinguished opposition determine Nika Gvaramia to eight months in jail, amid a deepening crackdown on critics of the ruling Georgian Dream occasion.
Gvaramia, the co-leader of the opposition Akhali occasion, was additionally barred from holding workplace for 2 years.
The court docket imposed the sentence on Tuesday over his refusal to cooperate with a parliamentary fee tasked with investigating alleged wrongdoing beneath ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, a pro-Western reformer at the moment serving a 12-and-a-half-year jail time period.
A number of different main opponents of Georgian Dream have been jailed on related fees to Gvaramia, together with Giorgi Vashadze, a former deputy justice minister, who acquired a seven-month prison sentence final week.
The crackdown has led to rising accusations in opposition to the governing occasion that it’s trampling on democracy amid persevering with protests within the wake of final yr’s disputed elections.
Chatting with the AFP information company on Tuesday, Gvaramia’s lawyer Dito Sadzaglishvili mentioned the decision in opposition to his shopper was “illegal” and “a part of the federal government’s try to crush all dissent in Georgia”.
Rising criticism
The British authorities on Monday denounced the crackdown on opposition figures and summoned the nation’s cost d’affaires.
“The imprisonment of distinguished opposition leaders is the newest try by the Georgian authorities to crack down on freedoms and stifle dissent,” the UK’s Overseas Workplace mentioned.
“The UK Authorities won’t hesitate to think about additional motion ought to Georgia not return to respecting and upholding democracy, freedoms and human rights,” it added.
The NGO Amnesty Worldwide additionally criticised the federal government, saying final week in response to Vashadze’s sentencing that it had “severe considerations over the misuse of legislative, policing and different powers to silence authorities critics in Georgia”.
The human rights organisation particularly took purpose on the parliamentary fee linked to the arrests of opposition figures.
“With its standing disputed, the fee has been instrumentalised to focus on former public officers for his or her principled opposition,” mentioned Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty’s deputy director for Japanese Europe and Central Asia.
After Georgian Dream claimed victory in a contested election in October, the European Union candidate nation skilled mass protests.
Critics accuse the federal government of undermining democracy and of bringing the nation near Moscow, allegations the governing occasion denies.
The EU has mentioned some 80 % of the inhabitants helps Georgia’s bid to affix the bloc, a dedication enshrined in its structure.
Amid allegations of democratic backsliding, america and several other European nations have sanctioned some Georgian authorities officers.
