The Law on Grants is not a
standalone regulation. It forms part of a layered legislative framework
developed since 2023 that also includes the Law on Transparency of Foreign
Influence (2024), the Foreign Agents Registration Act (2025), and accompanying
amendments to the Administrative Offences and Criminal Codes.[1] Together, these measures
substantially expand state regulation of the registration, funding and
activities of independent organisations, media and individuals and raise
concerns regarding legal certainty and the “quality of law” requirements.
These measures create
mutually reinforcing regulatory and enforcement mechanisms. Organisations may
be subject to registration and disclosure requirements, restrictions on access
to foreign funding, administrative or criminal sanctions for non-compliance,
and, in certain circumstances, criminal investigation under national-security
provisions, including “sabotage,” “assisting a foreign state or organisation in
hostile activities,” “treason,” and the recently introduced offence of
“extremism against the constitutional order of Georgia.” Some of these offences
carry sentences ranging from seven years to life imprisonment.
This framework is no longer
merely prospective. Since 2025, the Prosecutor’s Office has frozen the accounts
of human rights organisations in investigations relying on sabotage-related
allegations and has opened criminal investigations involving named
civil-society organisations and their representatives.[1] The legislative framework
has meanwhile expanded the circumstances in which foreign funding and related
activities may give rise to administrative or criminal liability.
In DRI’s assessment, these
developments substantially restrict the legal and financial space available to
independent civil society and create concrete legal risks for organisations and
individuals operating within it. Georgia has not experienced the scale of
arrests or closures of civil-society organisations observed in some more
consolidated authoritarian systems in the wider Eurasian region, including
Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan. That distinction remains important. At the same
time, the absence of enforcement on that scale does not diminish the
significance of the legal powers already created or of the enforcement measures
already undertaken.[2]
[1]Prosecution
Service of Georgia, 17 March 2025 (initiating the criminal investigation
against CSO groups, including Human Rights House Foundation) and 29 April 2025
(freezing bank accounts / initiating house and personal searches) statements,
available at https://pog.gov.ge/news/saqartvelos-prokuraturis-gantskhadeba-4736 and https://pog.gov.ge/news/saqartvelos-prokuraturis-gantskhadeba-4770
[2]In
December 2025, following the release of a BBC Eye investigation titled “When
Water Burns – The Fight for Georgia,” Georgian authorities summoned local
experts, witnesses, human rights defenders, and journalists in connection with
an investigation into alleged “assistance to a foreign organisation in hostile
activities”, the crime envisaged by Criminal Code Article 319. The State
Security Service of Georgia launched an investigation following suggestions
made in the documentary that the state had used the prohibited chemical CN gas
(“Camite”) during the dispersal of protests in Georgia in December 2024. After
spending only five days determining that no chemicals had been used, the State
Security Service closed the investigation into abuse of official powers
(Criminal Code Article 333), while keeping open the investigation under
Criminal Code Article 319. See: Amnesty International, “Georgia: Government’s
alleged use of toxic chemicals against protestors calls for international
investigation and complete embargo on all policing equipment”, 5 December 2025,
available at https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/12/georgia-governments-alleged-use-of-toxic-chemicals-against-protestors-calls-for-international-investigation-and-complete-embargo-on-all-policing-equipment/; State
Security Service, “Briefing in the State Security Service”, 06 December 2025,
available at https://ssg.gov.ge/news/1060/brifingi-saxelmtsifo-usafrtxoebis-samsaxurshi
On 17 March 2026, the State Security Service summoned former
Ombudsperson and human rights defender Ucha Nanuashvili over his communications
with the OSCE Moscow Mechanism Special Rapporteur, days after she published a
critical report on the deteriorating human rights situation in Georgia as part
of her mandate. See
Civil.ge, “Ex-Ombudsman Summoned to SSSG Over ‘Communication’ With Moscow
Mechanism Expert”, 17 March 2026, available at https://civil.ge/archives/725520
[1]JamNews, “Expert assesses Georgian Dream’s 2024–2026 laws targeting civil society”, 05 March 2026, available at https://jam-news.net/expert-assesses-georgian-dreams-2024-26-laws-targeting-civil-society/
Law on Grants: 2025 Restrictions and the March 2026 Expansion
სექტემბერი ოკუპირებული სამხრეთ ოსეთისა და აფხაზეთში რუსული გავლენების გაფართოების თვედ შეგვიძლია მივიჩნიოთ.
We call on the authorities to respond immediately, effectively and comprehensively to the serious allegations made by Giorgi Davitadze, a prisoner was subjected to sexual violence, including rape, by staff members of the penitentiary institution.
ოკუპირებულს სამხრეთ ოსეთში რუსეთი ფინანსური “მხარდაჭერის” ახალ ეტაპს იწყებს.
