Georgian PM says transparency bill needed to prevent “lies from ending up” in US State Department reports

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Tuesday told media the controversial bill on transparency on foreign influence was needed to prevent “lies from ending up” in reports of the United States Department of State, after the latter’s report on human rights said the prison sentence of Nika Gvaramia, the founder of the Georgian-based Mtavari Arkhi TV and Ahali opposition party who was pardoned by the Georgian President last year, had been “deemed politically motivated” by Georgian-based non-governmental organisations and the country’s Public Defender’s Office.

Kobakhidze claimed the report “lied” about Gvaramia, who was in 2022 convicted for improper commercial deals in 2015 and 2019 during his time at the helm of Rustavi 2 TV, being a political prisoner.

He noted the European Court of Human Rights had “legally proved the opposite” with its ruling last month that rejected claims by Gvaramia against his conviction.

[The ruling] confirmed that the sentencing [of Gvaramia] by the Georgian courts had been absolutely fair [and] the same is true here - a State Department-funded NGO sent [the US institution] a lie [on Gvaramia], and then this lie made its way into the State Department report”, the Government head alleged.

Kobakhidze said the development had taken place “because there is this closed circle in circumstances of intransparency” of foreign funding of domestic organisations, adding “[a]s soon as everything is transparent, then it will be difficult for NGOs to deceive the State Department”.

The bill calls for for registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad, and its reintroduction by the ruling Georgian Dream party has sparked public protests and criticism from some of Georgia’s international partners.