The Georgian government must end its smearing campaigns against independent media and journalists, civil society leaders, opposition politicians and other activists, says the report “Georgia: Anatomy of Repression: 500 Days of Protest, Crackdown and Resilience”, published by Amnesty International.

Amnesty International makes recommendations to the Georgian government, the European Union and international partners on various issues.

Namely, Amnesty International recommends the Georgian government to: cease smearing campaigns against independent media and journalists, civil society leaders, opposition politicians, and other activists. Where such smearing has led to harassment, property damage, physical attacks, or violation of the presumption of innocence or has otherwise influenced legal processes, all those affected must receive full and adequate reparation, including truth, restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, and guarantees of non-repetition; Ensure that all state officials, including members of government and parliament, refrain from participating, amplifying or engaging in disinformation campaigns that aim to stigmatize human rights defenders and other individuals to undermine their work or as preparation for state enforcement action; Conduct effective investigations into all reported cases in which public smearing and disinformation campaigns have been associated with physical attacks on individuals and their property with a view to bringing to account, in fair trial proceedings, all those responsible, including those who commissioned the campaign; Cease the use, and threats of use, of tax investigations, funding inquiries, and abuse of other regulatory mechanisms as instruments of harassing and delegitimizing media outlets.

Recommendations to the EU, Council of Europe and other international partners are as follows: “Maintain and expand support to NGOs, human rights defenders and media outlets affected by smearing and disinformation campaigns. This includes through public statements and other forms of political support, flexible emergency funding, media literacy initiatives and support to capacity building for media and civil society, while safeguarding the right to freedom of expression and media pluralism; Ensure that diplomatic and strategic communications continue to counter smear campaigns against NGOs, HRDs and media and facilitate the continued dissemination of material by independent media and civil society organizations.”

In its recommendations on the use of the judicial system as a weapon, the organization calls on the Georgian government to independently review all criminal convictions against demonstrators and activists since April 2024.

“Conduct an independent review of all criminal convictions of protesters and activists imposed since April 2024. All convictions found to have resulted from unfair proceedings must be quashed and those imprisoned released, until and unless well-founded charges are brought against them and their remand is imposed in fair trial proceedings. • Review all penalties imposed in administrative proceedings for alleged offences committed during the protests in 2024-2026, and ensure that no administrative penalties are applied solely for exercising the right of peaceful assembly; that any person wrongfully penalized and/or penalized in violation of their right to a fair trial receives full and adequate reparations, and that any further application of administrative law, and the use of administrative proceedings, against protest participants, including the use of facial recognition evidence, is fully compliant with fair trial proceedings and subject to meaningful judicial scrutiny. • Pending the necessary repeal of the legislative provisions that restrict and penalize the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, take steps to ensure that courts and prosecutorial authorities adopt internal guidelines to refrain from sanctioning and prosecuting such actions. • Restore full and free public access to judicial proceedings, and bring any restrictions on filming in court buildings and the use mobile phones and laptops in courtrooms in full compliance with Georgia’s obligations under international law. Ensure that hearings in protest-related cases are held in rooms large enough to accommodate the media, diplomatic observers, and the families of defendants.”