On February 5, Georgian Dream leader Mamuka Mdinaradze announced the adoption of new repressive legislation. The Democracy Research Center considers that, with the announced amendments, the party is trying not only to restrict, but also to completely eliminate dissenting and critical opinion in the country. The announced legislative changes, which are directed against independent media and civil society organizations, disregard the Constitution of Georgia and international standards.

• Georgian Dream has in fact announced the legalization of censorship - the draft law determines “Standards of Media Objectivity and Journalistic Ethics”. This means that the media will be prohibited from disseminating the ideas and information that do not fall within the party’s interests, whereas independent and free media play a crucial role in the country’s democratic development.
• In addition, no laws or subordinate acts will contain any norms that provide for the involvement of non-governmental organizations in the public decision-making process. According to Mamuka Mdinaradze, it is also planned to tighten the so-called Russian law and the process of enforcing this law will begin immediately.

Georgian Dream is trying every day to eliminate free and pro-European institutions, the activities of which, through the dissemination of real information and critical opinion, are related to the development of democratic processes.

The European Court of Human Rights has referred to the issues of restriction of freedom of expression in a number of its judgements, indicating that the right to freedom of speech and expression includes, among other things, publication/dissemination of materials that may be unacceptable to any party, especially if there is a high public interest in the issue. Restrictions on this right are permissible only in extreme cases, when there is a legitimate aim.

The grave draft laws announced by Georgian Dream contradict the standards set by the United Nations, the OSCE and the Council of Europe, according to which, disproportionate restrictions on the right to freedom of speech and expression and the imposition of censorship are inadmissible. The announced draft laws are another step towards establishment of a dictatorship.