The country of Georgia deepened its authoritarian turn last week after charging eight opposition figures with “sabotage,” “calling for the overthrow of the government,” and “helping a foreign country in hostile activities,” a reference to links with the United States. Many of the country’s politicians, along with roughly 70 other opponents of its government, are already serving sentences on earlier cases, while others await trial. The new charges arrived just days after the governing Georgian Dream party took steps toward its declared goal of banning three major opposition parties.
The moves come amid protests that began in November 2024, when the government abruptly halted Georgia’s bid to join the European Union. In a country where polls suggest over 80% of people support Western integration, the move led tens of thousands to take to the streets.
Over the past year, the government has moved aggressively to suppress dissent. It began with the Foreign Agents Law, casting Western-funded nongovernmental organizations and media as threats. It then quickly expanded into a wider assault on basic freedoms: steep fines and detentions for protesters, prison terms for repeat participants, and criminalizing online and offline criticism of officials and judges. These acts have served to destroy the foundations of freedom of expression.
At the center of this system stands Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of Georgian Dream and the country’s real authority, despite his holding no office. Under Ivanishvili, the government has turned not only against its opponents but also against former insiders. Several former prime ministers and senior officials have been investigated. One former prime minister who was brought in after a major protest crackdown is being prosecuted for the same event he was once praised for managing. A particularly striking case involves Giorgi Bachiashvili, once a key figure in Ivanishvili’s business network. After a dispute over cryptocurrency holdings, he was charged in absentia with embezzlement and sentenced to 11 years. While in the United Arab Emirates, he said he was kidnapped, held blindfolded for two days without a lawyer, and flown to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, on a Georgian Airways plane without extradition.
Together, these cases make clear that the judiciary in the country has become a generator of injustice. A handful of ruling-party judges control key decisions, and cases involving opponents, activists, and journalists unfold with highly predictable outcomes.
Georgia’s external orientation has shifted as sharply as its domestic politics. Government officials have echoed pro-Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine, aided domestic actors aligned with Moscow, and supported Russian sanctions evasion. Reexports of restricted goods to Russia have surged, and the Kulevi oil terminal has played a growing role in handling Russian-linked fuel flows. Tbilisi has rejected accusations of facilitating evasion; yet, its refusal to join Western sanctions, combined with rising reexports and limited transparency at its ports, has eased the pressure the U.S. seeks for Moscow to face.
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At the same time, Georgia has drawn markedly closer to China. The two governments not long ago formalized a strategic partnership, and Chinese involvement is now visible in several sensitive sectors. High-tech Chinese surveillance systems, including facial-recognition cameras, have been installed along protest routes. A Chinese–Singaporean consortium has secured a major stake in the long-stalled Anaklia deep-water port, a Silk Road project Washington has long regarded as strategically important for its interests in the Black Sea. Beijing has also expressed interest in constructing the planned Vaziani Airport outside Tbilisi, which American soldiers have long used.
In response, Europeans have issued warnings and suspended some financial programs, but nothing has meaningfully shifted the government’s trajectory. In Washington, the bipartisan MEGOBARI Act passed the House but stalled in the Senate, where lobby interests linked to Georgian Dream have pushed back. In this struggle, it’s in America’s interests to side with Georgians.