NGOs claim Gov’t “protecting” US-sanctioned people

More than 50 NGOs in Georgia, including Transparency International Georgia, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, on Monday claimed the Georgian Government was “protecting” the judges and a former Prosecutor General Otar Partskhaladze sanctioned by the US earlier this year. 

 

“Today, the Government clearly protects the persons sanctioned by the US. Naturally, such an approach damages the reputation of the country and the trust of international partners towards the Government of Georgia even more”, the NGOs claimed.

 

They urged the Government to “stop protecting” the interests of sanctioned persons and thereby “distance the country” from the western space, to “respond adequately” and “take concrete steps” to “correct the damage caused to the country” by the sanctions. 

 

The US in April imposed visa sanctions on three current and one former judge of Georgia for alleged corruption, and damaging the country’s judiciary, with the GD authorities claiming the sanctions had come “without evidence” and urged the country to remove them. 

 

Partskhaladze was sanctioned in September for his alleged cooperation with Russian intelligence. He has already left the country, after the National Bank changed its previous stance and said the sanctions could not be enforced without the judgment of domestic courts. 

 

The move allowed Partskhaladze to re-register his properties inside the country and transfer his assets, the domestic civil sector and the opposition claimed.