Repression in Georgia is moving fast. Europe and Germany must act now

For over a year, Georgia’s fledgling democratic structures and achievements have been steadily eroded. Thanks to widespread electoral fraud, the ruling Georgian Dream party secured a parliamentary majority once again in autumn 2024. Since then, it has pursued a relentless policy of repression against the population, following Vladimir Putin Russia’s example.

And what about Europe? And Germany? Rather than taking a clear stand and consistently threatening and imposing sanctions, Germany has allowed itself to be bossed around by Viktor Orbán’s Hungary for months. The message from Berlin so far has been that important political decisions regarding Georgia will only be taken within and with the European Union. However, Orbán is blocking any EU steps that could prevent the Georgian Dream party from taking repressive measures against its own people.
There have been arrests, enforced conformity and the use of force.

Arrests, enforced conformity, use of force...

Most of the leaders of the opposition parties that ran against Georgian Dream in October 2024 have now been imprisoned on flimsy grounds. The regime has passed more than a dozen laws to bring civil society and independent media outlets into line. Criticism of the regime on social media is now subject to prosecution. Hundreds of citizens have been mistreated by the police, yet not a single case has been investigated. Instead, police officers who acted particularly violently and mercilessly against the people have been awarded medals.

Journalists are particularly vulnerable to repression. One example is Mzia Amaghlobeli, a journalist who has been in pre-trial detention since January following a police-provoked incident. Amaghlobeli founded the successful regional newspaper Batumelebi, which is based in the Black Sea city of Batumi. On 6 August, she was sentenced to 2 years in prison, despite the international support for her release. Another regional journalist has also been repeatedly attacked and seriously injured.

The repression is no longer confined to Georgian citizens either: recently, a German journalist was fined over €1,500 for reporting on peaceful demonstrations outside parliament, which have been ongoing for more than 250 days. The Georgian perpetrators know exactly what they are doing. Believe it or not, both the prime minister and the speaker of parliament, the head of state security and key figures in the Georgian judiciary have earned law degrees in Germany.

...remain without consequences

So, what is Germany's response to all this repression? It is modest. Berlin has stopped providing direct funding to the Georgian government and is avoiding contact with representatives of the regime. Otherwise, however, the response in recent months has been limited to entry bans for nine particularly brutal police officers. According to people in Berlin who deal with Georgia, that is all that can be done.

It is precisely because of the lack of an international response that Georgian Dream, now acting as a regime, is becoming increasingly self-confident and brazen. Almost every week, the German ambassador, Peter Fischer, is vilified by leading regime politicians. Consequences? None so far.

But why is German foreign policy so paralysed? Political scientist Philip Manow identifies the 'juridification of politics' as the main reason for the decline of democratic systems in virtually all areas of politics. Germany appears to have paralysed itself with this juridification.

Clear statements from Ambassador Peter Fischer

Yet there is no lack of awareness of the dramatic situation. Ambassador Fischer regularly speaks out clearly and is respected in Georgia, including by his fellow ambassadors, for his upright stance.

However, Berlin has not provided a clear response, while leading members of the Georgian Dream party are using Instagram to show that Europe remains open to them during their international trips. Meanwhile, a young man is enjoying his scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which has allowed him to live in Heidelberg for years – despite his father earning his doctorate in Germany and most recently serving as the presiding judge of the Constitutional Court, before becoming deputy justice minister and playing a leading role in dismantling democracy in Georgia (incidentally, he is also the owner of a villa in a chic suburb above Tbilisi).

The “judges clan”

Of particular note is the case of Goga Kikilashvili, a member of the so-called "judges' clan", a legal cabal in Georgia. Despite his activities in the High Council of Justice, a hub for judicial manipulation, he received a DAAD scholarship for a research stay in Regensburg this summer. Kikilashvili had simply omitted this part of his biography from his application, thereby withholding essential information from the selection committee.

When asked about this, DAAD President Joybrato Mukherjee replied that the organisation remains committed to the "principle of neutrality". The responsibility for ensuring the completeness of the documents was given to the applicant. "Against this background, the DAAD – despite all understandable reservations about Mr Kikilashvili’s role as a member of the Georgian High Council of Justice – sees no grounds for revoking the scholarship." Democracies are proving incapable of defending their values.

Democracies incapable of defending their values

This opaque network of guidelines and self-imposed rules even secures funding for Georgian perpetrators. German taxpayers are currently supporting an exchange programme firmly in the hands of the Georgian regime's clique. Although the DAAD and the president of Humboldt University in Berlin, Julia von Blumenthal, are aware of the problem, nothing is happening. These cases send out a powerful message that goes far beyond these incidents, making it unmistakably clear to regimes how incapable democracies are of defending their own values.

History teaches us that authoritarian politicians must be confronted with power and determination. But this is precisely what Germany finds so difficult to do. Meanwhile, the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are showing how perpetrators can be swiftly prohibited from travelling. Germany must follow their example and ensure that anyone associated with the perpetrators is not entitled to German support. Invoking supposed 'neutrality' in this context is tantamount to declaring one's own impotence. Instead of continuing to undermine them, the legal departments of German authorities must implement their own political guidelines.

The maxim must be that those who stand up against injustice receive support, both in Georgia and in exile. So far, however, there has been little sign of courageous support. In fact, a month ago, the German Ministry of Justice cut the funding of honest Georgian lawyers. Germany must provide clarity.

Germany must extricate itself from this mess. There has been a huge gap between its own claims and reality so far. If Germany wants to be taken seriously, it must act independently of Orbán and his authoritarian cronies. However, it seems that those within the German administration can no longer imagine prevailing in a confrontation. They are trapped by the self-imposed constraints of entrenched administrative procedures. To escape this, action must be re-politicised. The new federal government will have to create a suitable framework for this.

Georgia has unexpectedly become a compelling test case for whether Germany is capable of pursuing its own policy in a more dangerous world. The time without opposition is over. It is now necessary to be able to assert oneself – and to want to do so. So far, the results have been modest.

🤝 This op-ed is published in partnership with LibMod