Congress Calls on Georgia to Release Political Prisoners

A U.S. government human rights watchdog is calling on Georgia to stop politically motivated persecutions of pro-Europe figures just a month after the government cracked down on protesters demonstrating against a foreign agent law with firehoses and nightsticks.

The bipartisan Helsinki Commission, which was established during the Cold War détente between the United States and the Soviet Union, is calling on Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili to use her pardon power to release political prisoners that support European integration.

In a letter sent to Zourabichvili on Thursday, the commission’s leaders, Rep. Joe Wilson and Sen. Ben Cardin, along with ranking members Rep. Steve Cohen and Sen. Roger Wicker, called on the Georgian president to release Nika Gvaramia, the owner of an opposition television channel in the country, who was jailed in May 2022 on charges of abuse of power and embezzlement that U.S. lawmakers believe were trumped up. 

“As a vocal proponent for Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration and the protection of its democracy, we believe that your assistance in stemming what are seemingly politically motivated persecutions would be a critically important step along that path,” the U.S. lawmakers wrote to Zourabichvili, a former French diplomat who is from a family of Georgian refugees and entered the country’s politics in the 2000s. She is at odds with much of the Georgian government, which has tilted toward Moscow of late. Zourabichvili promised to veto a law by Georgia’s pro-Russian ruling party that would have required election monitors, corruption watchdogs, and independent media outlets receiving a certain amount of foreign funding to be labeled as “foreign agents.” That bill was a near clone of a Russian law that has closed dozens of independent media outlets and enhanced Kremlin censorship of opposition voices. 

“Over the course of your presidency, you have been an outspoken and principled leader for Georgian democracy, Euro-Atlantic integration, and human rights,” the letter continued. “To that end, we believe that breaking the cycle of political prosecution in Georgia, such as securing Mr. Gvaramia’s release in particular, is not only an important humanitarian gesture and the correction of an injustice, but a critical step toward securing Georgians’ much deserved EU candidacy.”

Gvaramia isn’t the only high-profile prisoner. Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, a pro-Western figure who led the country during the 2008 war with Russia that led two pro-Kremlin regions to break away from Tbilisi’s rule, has been in prison when he isn’t in intensive care. Though Zourabichvili has ruled out using her pardon powers for Saakashvili, she has not made the same qualification in the case of Gvaramia, who is closely associated with the former president. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called for Saakashvili’s release amid reports that he is in poor health. 

The U.S. plea isn’t the first. The European Parliament overwhelmingly passed a resolution earlier this year urging Georgia to release Saakashvili—and has been vocal about the Georgian government’s sudden shift away from Western and democratic values. 

The U.S. request comes amid increasing signs that the Georgian street is becoming more favorable toward integration with Europe, despite the specter of a pro-Russian government led by the Georgian Dream party that was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country’s richest man. According to a poll conducted by the National Democratic Institute and CRRC Georgia between July and August 2022, 75 percent of Georgian citizens support EU membership, and 69 percent are committed to NATO membership, which was first promised to Tbilisi before the war with Russia in August 2008. 

The EU offered candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova last year but punted when it came to Georgia owing to the worsening human rights situation there.