Georgia marks December 10, 2025 – an international Human Rights Day – virtually without human rights. On the one hand, repressive legislative changes, methods of its implementation, and on the other hand, the absence of independent institutions have led to an extreme human rights crisis. Georgian Dream’s repressive policies and practices of recent years have turned Georgia into an authoritarian country in 2025.

The actions taken by Georgian Dream in 2025, which have nothing to do with the protection of human rights, are a continuation of the policy started in 2024. Following the rigged parliamentary elections in 2024 and the events that took place in November-December,[1]  in 2025 the party has been completely disregarding, among other rights, the right to vote, the right to association, freedom of the media, the right to a fair trial, freedom of assembly and expression.

Despite numerous alleged cases of torture and inhuman treatment by law enforcement officers and violent groups in November-December 2024, there has been no identified/investigated case in 2025. According to the investigation conducted by the highly reputable international media outlet, the BBC, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia used a prohibited chemical substance to quell peaceful demonstrators in November-December 2024. Regarding the alleged heinous crime, Amnesty International issued a statement, in which it strongly criticized Georgian Dream’s repressive policy and called on the relevant actors to conduct an international investigation.

In 2025, the number of political prisoners detained under criminal law increased by 81. Among them are political party leaders, media representatives, people of various professions and civil activists. In parallel with the tightened laws, administrative proceedings were launched against more than 1,000 individuals.

During the reporting period, Georgian Dream used all the resources at its disposal to confront politicians and representatives of the civil sector. Along with the legislative amendment banning political parties, criminal prosecutions have been launched against leaders of opposition political parties on charges of sabotage, aiding and abetting a foreign state in hostile activities, financing activities directed against the constitutional order of Georgia and the foundations of national security, and calling for the violent change of the constitutional order of Georgia and the overthrow of the state authorities. In addition, by seizing the accounts of civil society organizations and launching an investigation against human rights defenders in the so-called “face mask case,” Georgian Dream is trying to finally destroy free and critical thought in the country.

The complete regression of human rights in 2025 is obvious in the critical assessments of international actors as well. On December 4, 2025, Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, published an article stating that Georgian Dream criminalized protest and dissent through legislative amendments and their practical enforcement.

Against the backdrop of the adoption of repressive laws (usually in an expedited manner), criminalization of the rights of assembly and expression, illegal arbitrary detentions, biased justice, absence of independent institutions, and persecution of media representatives, NGOs, civil activists, and political parties, it is extremely difficult to assess the human rights situation in Georgia in 2025. Nevertheless, we will briefly review several key rights and issues, the existence/protection of which is particularly important from the point of view of the country's democracy.