Ruling party official: if US citizens “deserve transparency, Georgian public does too”

Rati Ionatamishvili, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party faction in the Parliament, on Tuesday said the purpose of the United States Foreign Agents Registration Act was to promote transparency for the American public, and added “if American citizens deserve transparency, the Georgian public deserves it too”.

Ionatamishvili’s comments followed after Matthew Miller, the Spokesperson for the United States Department of State, on Monday rejected parallels between the legislative pieces in the two countries by saying “when you see the United States Foreign Agents Registration Act, it is to people who are acting on behalf of a foreign government, not people who are doing legitimate non government organisation work”.

Miller was making the comment following the Georgian Government's drawing of similarities between the FARA and the Georgian bill that calls 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.

In his response, Ionatamishvili said activities of Giuli Alasania, the mother of Georgia’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili and David Kezerashvili, the wanted former Defence Minister in the United National Movement Government, had been recorded in a FARA register.

Do they have such a poor opinion of the Georgian people that they will tell actual lies and anyone here will believe them? Neither Kezerashvili nor Alasania represent the [Georgian] Government, nor are [opposition] Droa and Girchi parties non-governmental organisations. The purpose of the FARA is to promote transparency for American society”, he said in a social media message.

The Georgian bill has been met with public protests and criticism by some of the country’s foreign partners.