Students marching against the foreign agents law in May 2024. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media, used with permission

This article was first published on OC Media on January 21, 2025. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement. 

In its latest move to curb freedom of expression and assembly, the ruling Georgian Dream party has vowed to reform universities’ four-year undergraduate studies programs. The reforms announced at a government meeting on January 20, 2025, by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, will be led by a special government commission. Commentators, however, are concerned that underneath the guise of reforms are politically motivated intentions and that the ruling government is more keen on forcing Georgian universities to be under its control. The country has been marred by months-long pro-European and anti-government protests in which, in addition to thousands of protesters, universities have also taken an active role.

Since November 2024, when the government announced its decision to suspend the country's EU accession process, students have joined the street protests and have organized actions on campuses across the country. Previously, universities, students, and academics were actively involved in protests against the controversial foreign agents law. Some professors have expressed dissent in various forms, including open letters addressed to the government to change course. As such, the government has accused the academics, as well as the students, of being linked to the former government under the Unity-National Movement party, which is reviled by Georgian Dream.

One of the educational establishments targeted is Tbilisi State University (TSU), but the university has had both camps: those in favor of the government and those who have been vocal in their criticism of the state. In May 2024, during protests against the foreign agents law, Prime Minister Kobakhidze said on the public broadcaster that a large number of TSU professors were “selected based on political affiliation and lack sufficient qualifications.” He also mentioned the need for a “qualitative transformation” of the system and promised that one of the main priorities after the 2024 elections would be education reform.

In 2023, Kobakhidze accused some members of the TSU management of appointing academic staff favored by the Georgian Dream's predecessor, the UNM government. The prime minister also said that he, himself, was expelled from TSU in 2010 for criticizing the constitutional amendments at the time. This, according to Kobakhidze, was a political decision.

Another university targeted was the Ilia State University (ISU), known as one of the progressive universities in Georgia. In May 2024, it was among the very few that sided with the students and refused to sign a statement issued by 38 universities in response to a strike initiated by students from across 30 universities in protest against the foreign agent law. The ISU was reprimanded. Consequently, in October 2024, Georgia’s education ministry withheld full accreditation from the ISU, granting it only conditional authorisation with a final decision to be made after a year-long monitoring.

Controversially, Kobakhidze went as far as to suggest to students that rather than taking to the streets, they should get on the “right track,” calling on male students to “take wives” and for female students to “get married and reproduce.”

Beyond proposed university reforms

Universities are the latest targets of the ruling Georgian Dream. Earlier in January, Georgia’s interior ministry ordered the expulsion of 25 foreign nationals who had allegedly participated in anti-government protests in November and December 2024. Also in January, the Research Center of the Georgian Parliament was shut down after several employees signed a public statement against the government's withdrawal from the EU accession process.

Since the last week of December 2024, many more public servants have been dismissed, according to reporting by Civil.ge. The dismissed employees had all participated in protests in support of Georgia’s European integration, criticized the ruling party's decision to abandon the country’s EU path and the police violence against citizens. Speaking of the mass dismissals, Kobakhidze alluded to the purges as a “self-cleanse.”

When scores of workers walked out on a national strike day, they were subject to physical attacks by “titushki,” a group of often-masked men assumed to be working for the government. Since the protests began, titushki have frequently attacked protesters, government critics, and journalists.

While the crimes committed by titushki have gone unnoticed, protesters detained during the ongoing protests have been tried or are currently on trial in local courts, facing lengthy jail times and administrative detentions.

Journalists have not been spared. On January 12, the founder and director of the independent newspaper Batumelebi and the online outlet Netgazeti Mzia Amaghlobeli, was remanded in custody for allegedly assaulting a police officer. But the crackdown on independent media has been going on for a while as documented in this piece by seasoned journalist and co-founder of OC Media, Mariam Nikuradze. This includes a new code of conduct for journalists and halting journalists’ parliamentary accreditation. “If we survive the foreign agent law, as long as Georgian Dream stays in power, we will not have an easy ride: other laws to silence media are sure to follow,” wrote Nikuradze.

“The scale of the crackdown on the media since November 28, following the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to halt Georgia’s negotiation talks with the EU, has been unprecedented,” read a joint letter, signed in December 2024 by a group of international media freedom and rights watch groups. The letter highlighted the cases of more than 90 media workers who were subject to physical attacks, verbal abuse and other forms of police violence while covering the pro-EU demonstrations.

This brutal crackdown on the media in Georgia is not an isolated incident but part of a rapid deterioration of press freedom and of targeted violence and impunity for crimes against journalists. Despite repeated appeals to the Special Investigation Service, crimes against journalists remain largely uninvestigated, perpetuating a culture of impunity.

Civil.ge has been keeping an up-to-date “Chronicle of Repression” documenting cases of arrests, detentions, violence and more.

On January 22,  the European parliament discussed Georgia’s deteriorating political situation — one the latest examples of international concern over the situation in the country. The discussion was opened by the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner. In addition to calling on the government to change course and engage in a constructive dialogue with all domestic stakeholders, Brunner repeated the European Union's position, which is in agreement with Georgia's civil society.

On January 16, leading members of the European Parliament issued a statement expressing concern and condemning ongoing violence. The statement came shortly after former prime minister Giorgi Gakharia and the leader of the opposition political party For Georgia were physically attacked. “This is yet another example of the escalating violence orchestrated by the Georgian Dream and its allies against peaceful protesters and dissidents,” read the statement.

On December 27, 2024 the US State Department sanctioned Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of Georgian Dream, “for undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia.” UK Member of Parliament James MacCleary hopes the UK parliament will follow suit. He introduced an Early Day Motion (EDM) calling for potential sanctions on Ivanishvili on January 14, 2025.

The same day, the European People’s Party's (EPP) political council, in an emergency resolution called on all the members of the EPP to “refrain from recognizing the self-proclaimed regime of the Georgian Dream as a legitimate government of Georgia; cease invitations for all official visits and participation of Georgian Dream officials in international fora; not recognize Georgian Dream credentials in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) so as to not render legitimacy.”