The European Court of Human Rights has communicated the lawsuit regarding the freezing of bank accounts of five Georgian civil society organizations - the Social Justice Center, the Civil Society Foundation, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and Sapari, which officially marks the beginning of the case review on its merits.

According to the Fair Elections, the European Court has granted the aforementioned claim the status of a case with significant impact, which means that the court preliminarily assesses that the aforementioned case may have a particular impact on the practice of the court, national legislation and broader human rights and public issues.

"The commencement of the review of the case on its merits is an important message to the Georgian authorities that any action aimed at restricting civil society activities, criminalizing human rights activities, and persecuting independent organizations will be subject to international legal assessment and cannot remain without an appropriate response," reads the information.

For information, the organizations applied to the European Court of Justice on October 15, 2025.