Georgia

Georgia cracks down on pro-EU protests with crippling fines

Published

10 months ago

March 23, 2025

Georgia cracks down on pro-EU protests with crippling fines

Nadim Khmaladze has been joining thousands of fellow Georgians on the streets every evening since November, when Tbilisi’s increasingly repressive government shelved EU membership talks.

The 60-year-old rights activist said he was “ready to face police violence” when he first joined the anti-government rallies in Tbilisi, but he never imagined that standing on the street for a few hours could cost him more than 22 months’ salary.

Three months into the protests, he received a summons: a total of 45,000 lari (around $16,000) in fines for briefly blocking traffic along Tbilisi’s central avenue.

“The government is using Russian-style methods to abolish freedom of assembly in Georgia,” he told AFP.

Khmaladze is one of thousands of Georgian protesters facing crippling fines for taking to the streets.

Prominent writer Mikheil Tsikhelashvili, who returned to Georgia last year from emigration in Portugal to fight against the ruling Georgian Dream party’s “pro-Russian policies,” has been attending protests daily.

He says he and his girlfriend were each fined the equivalent of $1,850, in what he called a “financial terror aimed at extinguishing popular anger.”

“I took the case to court,” he said, adding however that he had “little hope in Georgia’s justice system, which is fully controlled by the ruling party.”

– Unprecedented protests –

Braving bitter frost, protesters continue to rally daily in Tbilisi and cities across the Black Sea nation, in what has become an unprecedented protest movement against Georgian Dream’s perceived democratic backsliding and growing rapprochement with Moscow.

The mass protests first erupted following disputed parliamentary elections in October, which the opposition rejected as rigged in favour of Georgian Dream.

The movement intensified after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s November 28 announcement that his cabinet would not seek to open EU membership talks with Brussels until 2028 — a move that shocked many.

Georgia is an official candidate for membership in the 27-nation bloc, a bid supported by more than 80 percent of the population, according to opinion polls, and enshrined in the country’s constitution.

During the protests’ initial phase, security forces used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators and made hundreds of arrests.

Georgia’s top human rights official, ombudsman Levan Ioseliani, and Amnesty International have accused police of “torturing” detainees — a charge the government denies.

Authorities have since resorted to harsh financial penalties and increased surveillance, deploying facial recognition technology to identify protesters and issue hefty fines.

– ‘Slowly strangling’ –

“After the bare violence proved ineffective, the government turned to intimidation — televised police raids on activists’ homes and anonymous threats over the phone,” Salome Khvadagiani, the director of Liberty Institute rights group, told AFP.

“When that too failed to suppress the protest, the government moved to slowly strangling them — financially,” she added.

In December, fines for blocking roads were increased tenfold, to 5,000 laris ($1,850), leaving thousands facing “absolutely disproportionate financial sanctions” or, alternatively, 15 days in prison.

In January alone, the total amount of fines surpassed $6.5 million in the country of four million people, where the average monthly salary is some $740, according to the For Georgia opposition party.

The interior ministry said it only issues fines “when the number of demonstrators doesn’t justify blocking the road” and a rally can be held without disrupting traffic.

To enforce these measures, authorities have expanded surveillance capabilities, including the deployment of facial recognition technology.

Rights groups said the government has drastically increased the number of high-resolution surveillance cameras in the streets of Tbilisi.

The widespread use of “facial recognition and remote biometric recognition technologies facilitates discriminatory targeted surveillance,” said GYLA rights watchdog. “These practices undermine fundamental rights.”

– ‘We will never back down’ –

In 2021, Amnesty International, along with several other international rights groups, called for “an outright ban on uses of facial recognition and remote biometric recognition technologies that enable mass surveillance and discriminatory targeted surveillance.”

Khvadagiani of the Liberty Institute said the “campaign of mass and disproportional financial sanction has caused protests turnout to dwindle significantly over the last month.”

But demonstrators are now “adapting to the situation” she said, filing court complaints that have overwhelmed the judicial system, “significantly delaying the enforcement of financial sanctions or even making them unenforceable.”

“The government can’t scare us,” said Khmaladze, who fought for nearly two years on Ukraine’s frontlines against invading Russian troops.

“We are taking to the streets for Georgia’s democracy and will never back down,” he said.

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Georgia

Georgia Deports Citizens of 6 Countries, Including Azerbaijan

Published

8 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

Georgia Deports Citizens of 6 Countries, Including Azerbaijan

Employees of the Migration Department of Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, as part of recent special operations, have deported 13 citizens from Turkmenistan, Iran, Cuba, Türkiye, Thailand, and Azerbaijan.

According to the information released by the ministry, the Migration Department carried out comprehensive immigration control measures in close coordination with the relevant departments, The Caspian Post reports, citing local media.

It is noted that, under current legislation, deported persons are prohibited from re-entering the country.

According to official statistics, the total number of foreign citizens deported from Georgia last year was 1,311.

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Georgia

Georgia attains highest AP Top 25 ranking since 2003, with Florida on deck

Published

20 hours ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Georgia attains highest AP Top 25 ranking since 2003, with Florida on deck

Georgia Bulldogs

No. 18 Bulldogs bring 13-1 record into Tuesday night game against defending national champion Gators in Gainesville.

Georgia coach Mike White (right) talks with guard Jeremiah Wilkinson during the Bulldogs’ win against Cincinnati in a Holiday Hoopsgiving game Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Georgia won 84-65. (Jason Getz/AJC)

ATHENS — Georgia basketball is back on the map, ranked in the AP Top 25 for a third consecutive week for the first time in nearly 23 years.

The Bulldogs (13-1, 1-0 SEC) are ranked No. 18 in the AP Top 25, up five spots from last week’s ranking, on the strength of a 104-100 overtime win over Auburn on Saturday.

It’s the highest Georgia has been ranked in the AP Top 25 poll since Jim Harrick coached the program and came in at No. 17 on Feb. 3, 2003 — the most recent season UGA has been ranked in the poll three or more consecutive weeks.

Unbeaten teams Arizona (14-0), Michigan (13-0) and Iowa State (14-0) hold the top three spots in this week’s AP Top 25, with UConn (14-1) and Purdue (13-1) rounding out the top five.

Vanderbilt (14-0, 1-0) is the SEC’s highest-ranked AP Top 25 team, coming in at No. 11, while Alabama (11-3, 1-0) is at No. 13, Arkansas (11-3, 1-0) is No. 15 and then No. 18 Georgia is the league’s fourth-highest-ranked team entering into this week’s games.

“Our guys have been so eager, probably like most teams in our league and throughout other leagues, at the highest level of college basketball,” UGA fourth-year coach Mike White said about the start of SEC play.

“We were playing a bunch of midmajors through the holidays, and you can’t let the moment be too big.”

Georgia’s schedule strength jumped from 298th to 231st with the win over Auburn, and it figures to get another boost when the Bulldogs play at Florida (9-5, 0-1) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“Our confidence comes from within, we know what we have in our locker room,” said Georgia guard Jeremiah Wilkinson, a transfer from Cal who scored 31 in the win over Auburn and leads the Bulldogs with 18.3 points per game this season.

“We knew what we were capable of before coming into the (Auburn) game, and we told each other before the game: Let’s act like we’re supposed to win the game. Let’s act like we’re supposed to be here.”

Georgia leads the nation in scoring offense (99.4 points per game), fast-break points (27.0 per game) and blocked shots (8.0 per game).

The Gators, featuring preseason All-SEC players Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Boogie Fland, were the media’s preseason pick to win the league.

Georgia — which didn’t have a player picked on the first, second or third team — was picked to finish 14th in the SEC.

White, who coached Florida from 2015-2022, leading the Gators to four NCAA tournaments and an Elite Eight appearance in 2017, said Georgia is looking forward to the opportunity to play the defending national champion.

“We’ll fly around, we’ll play hard, we’ll be prepared,” White said. “This team has a pretty healthy level of intrinsic confidence, and you’ll need that to be competitive down there against a team that’s coming off a national championship.”

Georgia split with Florida last season, losing 89-59 in Gainesville, Florida, on Jan. 25 and then handing the Gators their last loss of the season, 88-83, on Feb. 25 in Athens.

“It’s nothing different than what we’ve just seen tonight (against Auburn),” said UGA guard Marcus “Smurf” Millender, who leads Georgia with 54 assists and a 40% 3-point shooting clip.

“They put their jerseys on like we put our jerseys on. We’re going to give them our best game and hope they bring it too.”

Florida fell out of the AP Top 25 poll this week after losing its SEC-opening game at Missouri 76-74 on Saturday and is among other teams still receiving votes.

Georgia has lost six consecutive games in Gainesville dating back to a 61-55 win on March 2, 2019, in Tom Crean’s first year leading the Bulldogs.

Mike is in his 10th season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 25 years of CFB experience. Mike is a Heisman Trophy voter and former Football Writers President who was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.

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Georgia

5 things to watch for in Georgia politics this year

Published

1 day ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

5 things to watch for in Georgia politics this year

Politically Georgia

Your daily jolt of news and analysis from the AJC politics team.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is his second and final term of office. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Today’s newsletter highlights:

Marjorie Taylor Greene stokes feud with Donald Trump as she exits Congress.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens will be sworn in today for a second term.
Dana Barrett is expected to run for secretary of state as a Democrat.

Looking ahead

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Things to know

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:yadot ot eerht sgniht rehto wonk rof era ereH

A yearslong challenge to Georgia’s anti-abortion law and a case blaming Snapchat for a teenager’s reckless driving are among the cases to watch in state courts this year, the AJC’s Rosie Manins reports.
Garland Favorito believes the U.S. government covered up the truth about the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Now, he’s become a leader among conservatives who say Georgia’s 2020 presidential election was rife with fraud, the AJC’s David Wickert reports.
A shadowy group has paid roughly $8 million for ads criticizing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ campaign for governor. Now, Jones is urging the Federal Communications Commission to step in, Greg Bluestein reports.

Last day

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, is stepping down from Congress today.

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Dickens’ second term

Andre Dickens was first sworn in as mayor of Atlanta during an inauguration ceremony at Georgia Tech in 2022.

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Ossoff’s strategy

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff held a rally in Savannah last July.

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Campaign watch

Democrat Dana Barrett is a Fulton County commissioner.

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Listen up

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Today in Washington

President Donald Trump waved after arriving at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. He was returning from a holiday break in Florida.

:sgnineppaH

President Donald Trump participates in a policy meeting at the White House.
The full House is out for one more day.
The House Ethics Committee is expected to announce an update on a complaint involving U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, and his top aide, Brandon Phillips. The committee disclosed in November that the complaint had been referred to its members on Oct. 7 and set a deadline for today to announce its course of action. The complaint wasn’t made public, and Collins’ office has called it a “desperate and baseless attack” by the U.S. Senate candidate’s political opponents.
The Senate return for evening votes.

Shoutouts

yadhtrib detaleB

Rebecca Yardley, executive director of America First Georgia (was Tuesday).

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Before you go

Georgia author Allen Levi tells the story of a man named Theo who transforms lives with small acts of kindness.

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Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.

Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the “Politically Georgia” podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.

Patricia Murphy is the AJC’s senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.