On July 15, the Democracy Research Institute held a presentation of the report "Protests under Observation". The report reflects the results of observation of protests organized by political parties, civil movements and activists from November 6, 2023 to May 30, 2024. The document also analyzes the results of observation of trials of those who were arrested during the protests or in connection with the protests.

The document provides a brief overview of the legislative framework governing freedom of assembly. It also reviews the legislative initiatives, adoption of which has a negative impact on the right to assembly and demonstration. The second part of the document presents the results of observation of the protests held from November 6 to April 15, 2023. The third part of the report is devoted to the events developed from the introduction of the so-called Russian Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence till 30 May 2024.

During the protests, there were numerous gross violations of international standards, constitution and legislation, as well as cases of incitement to violence, inaction of the Special Investigation Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and attempts to intimidate and influence protesters. In particular:

• Observation of protests during the reporting period showed that, as a rule, demonstrators acted within the law.
• At the protests held against the “Russian law”, in no case did the demonstrators violate the law to the extent that could cause illegal consequences or turn the entire assembly into a violent one.
• In none of the cases, when law enforcement officers used physical force and special equipment to disperse the rally, there was no legal grounds for doing the above.
• The use of special equipment by the police forces during the dispersal of the rally in several cases, due to the sporadic nature of the violations of law in the area surrounding the Parliament, which in some cases caused injuries to the peaceful participants in the rally, cannot be considered proportionate.   
• During the protests held against the Russian law, the Ministry of Internal Affairs never once followed the obligation to warn the participants in the protests before dispersing the rally.
• During the protests held against the Russian law, law enforcement officers repeatedly prevented media representatives from carrying out their professional activities.
• More than 200 people were arrested during the rallies held against the Russian law. As a rule, the detainees were not informed of the grounds for their arrest or their procedural rights. The right to a lawyer was also often restricted. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, in many cases, did not provide family members or lawyers with information about the whereabouts of the detained persons.
• Law enforcement officers abused more than one arrested person. The nature of the injuries inflicted on several detainees (mainly bruised face and broken teeth) shows that the injuries cannot be the result of legitimate police measures, bur represent clear retaliation against political opponents.
• The standard of evidence was still extremely low in court, during the hearing of cases of administrative offences related to the protests.
• Organized groups openly supported by the authorities launched a coordinated campaign of telephone threats to intimidate protesters.
• Organized groups damaged vehicles owned by leaders of non-governmental organizations or their family members, made insulting inscriptions, posters and stencils on the facades and gates of offices or houses of the heads of the organizations.
• The public statement of one of the leaders of Georgian Dream and the accompanying video make it clear that the ruling party not only incites police violence, but also stands behind the persecution and attacks against leaders of civil society organizations, civil activists and politicians.

Protests under Observation