On February 3, after the party session, the leader of the Georgian Dream, Mamuka Mdinaradze, announced the tightening of the repressive policy by introducing amendments to legislation.

Georgian Dream is extremely tightening sanctions for the administrative norms it has been using especially actively in the past few months without any legal grounds. For example, fines for petty hooliganism, vandalism, disobeying the orders of law enforcement officers and insulting them, blocking court entrances and other similar administrative violations will be further increased, while the term of administrative detention is planned to be increased from 15 to 60 days. In addition, holding rallies in closed spaces and buildings will be prohibited without the consent of the owner.

According to the announced changes, verbal insults to a state political official or public servant in connection with his or her activities will be defined as administrative violations, for which severe sanctions will be provided. According to the European Court of Human Rights, public servants and political officials have a special obligation of tolerance, including when being verbally insulted. The implementation of the mentioned change completely ignores the standard of tolerance established for public servants and political officials, which will be achieved by extreme restrictions on freedom of speech and expression.

In addition to the Administrative Offences Code, amendments are also planned to be made to the Criminal Code:

• Public calls for violent acts were previously punishable only by a fine and community service; according to the announced changes, this act will be punished by up to 3 years in prison.
• Resistance, threats and violence against law enforcement officers will be defined as a felony and, accordingly, the term of imprisonment will be increased.
• Commission of an offence in a group and repeatedly will be defined as aggravating circumstances and, accordingly, the punishment for attacks on police officers, government officials and their family members will be increased.
• Punishment will also be toughened for damaging the health of a police officer. A new norm will be added to the Criminal Code and a person who commits an attack or threat of violence against a political official, state employee, or public servant will be punished by criminal law.

By tightening legislation, Georgian Dream is trying to drastically reduce dissent in the country. The aim of disproportionate sanctions, which completely contradict the Constitution of Georgia, international standards, and the practice of the European Court, is to instill fear in people with a different opinion. The announcement of tougher legislative changes has a chilling effect on the right to assembly and expression. This problem is further exacerbated by the biased judiciary, which, especially recently, has been using the maximum sentences provided for by law against demonstrators.