“We are witnessing the birth of a one-party system, and behind all this stands one man,” said the fifth President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, during her speech at the Senate of the Czech Republic.

“Today, I come to you with a warning and a call to action. Georgia is being transformed before our eyes—not by tanks, but by repressive laws; not overnight, but step by step. Before our eyes, in real time, our democracy is unraveling. Peaceful demonstrators are met with violence and arrests; opposition parties are being threatened with bans; NGOs, media outlets, and civil society organizations are being burdened with fines amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros. A new law on ‘foreign agents’ has been adopted—an exact copy of the Russian law that has suffocated civil society. Repressive laws are being passed daily. The crime of treason has been reintroduced into Georgian legislation. We are nearing 1937,” said Salome Zurabishvili.

According to her, institutions in Georgia no longer protect the people.

“The judiciary has become a tool of repression for the ruling party. In recent months, the courts have not made a single significant ruling against the excessive demands of the prosecution. We are witnessing the birth of a one-party system. Behind all of this stands one man, who is not held accountable and is untouchable. Where once there was the promise of a European democracy, now looms the shadow of Russian-style autocracy—and behind it all is the shadow of Russia,” Zurabishvili emphasized.