Non-governmental organizations in Georgia say they have received a request to disclose personal information about citizens under their protection. According to statements made during a special briefing, the request came via the Anti-Corruption Bureau and is being pursued through what they describe as the “Murusidze court,” a reference to a judicial system they claim is increasingly aligned with Russian-style governance.
Representatives of the NGOs strongly condemned the move, accusing the authorities of attempting to implement laws modeled on Russian practices that target civil society and personal freedoms.
"On June 17, Razhden Kuprashvili’s bureau began to enforce anti-constitutional Russian laws through the Murusidze court. They demand from us, human rights defenders, without legal grounds, to hand over personal information of citizens under our protection - victims of torture, women victims of violence, pupils, students, teachers, pensioners, disabled people, entrepreneurs, whistleblowers, journalists, observers, illegally dismissed civil servants and their family members. In particular, they demand that we hand over personal information, including names, surnames, photographs, financial and banking details, and health information of all those people who trusted us and do not benefit from our help.
We are not going to betray the trust of citizens under our protection, even if this means our persecution and imprisonment. We will not share information about people oppressed by Ivanishvili’s regime with the Russian regime. We will take legal action against these orders. Their goal is clear to us - Ivanishvili is trying to destroy free civil society in Georgia, just as the Bolsheviks did in the 1920s, and the Putin and Lukashenko regimes did in the last decade. We declare once again that we are not going to live by Russian laws, accept the sabotage of Georgia’s European future, and will continue to fight to protect the rights of the Georgian people", - the NGOs stated.
