“Do you remember that in January, the Assembly expressed its deep concern about the political crisis in Georgia, and condemned the police brutality in the context of the demonstrations, as well as the violation of freedom of assembly and expression, and the crackdown on the opposition and civil society? Regrettably, the situation has not improved since January and no progress can be reported with regard to addressing the recommendations of our Assembly,” stated Edite Estrela, the rapporteur on Georgia at the European Parliamentary Assembly.

According to her, there has been no progress in implementing the Assembly’s recommendations in Georgia.

“Before presenting to you the content of the resolution on the situation in Georgia, adopted by the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee), allow me to begin with a personal note.

I have been co-rapporteur for Georgia long enough to say that this is not the resolution I wanted to present to this Assembly. This was not the debate I expected to have at this spring session.

Do you remember that in January, the Assembly approved Resolution 2585 (2025) on the ratification of the credentials of the Georgian delegation? Do you remember that the Assembly expressed its deep concern about the political crisis in Georgia, and condemned the police brutality in the context of the demonstrations, as well as the violation of freedom of assembly and expression, and the crackdown on the opposition and civil society?

Regrettably the situation has not improved since January and no progress can be reported with regard to addressing the recommendations of our Assembly. On the contrary, according to the latest news and reports from representatives of the civil society and the democratic opposition, the situation has deteriorated.

While ratifying the credentials of the delegation, with restrictions, the Assembly outlined a clear set of recommendations and demands with a view to resolving the crisis in the country, on which it expected clear and tangible progress by the time of this session.

So, in the draft resolution that we present here today we therefore take stock of the developments that have taken place in Georgia since our debate in January.

We deeply regret that no progress has been made regarding our recommendations but that on the contrary the democratic backsliding has continued unabatedly,” declared Edite Estrela.

According to her, the situation has deteriorated significantly on practically all fronts.

“No steps have been taken to implement the Assembly’s call to immediately initiate an inclusive process involving all stakeholders and social actors to create an electoral environment that is conducive to new, genuinely democratic, elections.

On the contrary, we outline in the resolution a number of amendments to the electoral legislation that makes this environment even less conducive for democratic elections and interactions.

The arrest and abuse of legal proceedings against protesters, journalists and civic leaders is continuing unabated.

Pre-trial detentions are renewed repeatedly without proper legal grounds.

The cases of police brutality during demonstrations, while reportedly decreased, are still not being effectively investigated. Impunity is continuing.

Deeply worrying are the reports by human rights defenders, as well as the Georgian Ombudsperson, that a large proportion of persons detained in connection with demonstrations have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment during arrest and in detention.

This deterioration needs to stop, the dramatic democratic backsliding needs to be reversed. The Assembly’s recommendations and demands need to be implemented without delay,” she added.