On May 28 of this year, the Georgian Parliament, dominated by the Georgian Dream Party, passed a law titled “On Transparency of Foreign Influence.” The law requires that non-governmental organizations receiving at least 20 percent of their funding from overseas register and declare that they are “carrying out the interests of a foreign power.”
The run-up to the eventual passage of what many Georgians call “the Russian Law,” gave rise to the largest protests in Georgia's post-independence history. The government responded with excessive and disproportionate force.
At the time, the United States Department of State responded by implementing visa restrictions on individuals deemed to be complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia.
On September 16, the State Department and the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned two more officials of the Georgian government for their involvement in serious human rights abuse during the violent response to peaceful protests against the foreign influence law, as well as two Georgian leaders of a violent extremist group for serious human rights abuse.
Zviad “Khareba” Kharazishvili is a Special Task Department Chief at the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs. During the protests, he and his Deputy, Mileri Lagazauri, commanded units that violently targeted Georgian citizens, political opposition leaders, journalists, and youth activists who were peacefully expressing their views.
Konstantine Morgoshia is a founder of Alt-Info, a media company which he used to amplify disinformation and spread hate speech and threats against marginalized communities. In July 2021 and 2023, he called for violent attacks against marginalized persons peacefully exercising their fundamental freedoms of expression and assembly. He led hundreds of followers to break into non-governmental organization offices and attack journalists and police officers at the scene.
Zurab Makharadze is a media personality associated with Alt-Info. He directly encouraged violence against minority groups and journalists online prior to the violent attacks on marginalized communities and helped to direct, organize, and fundraise for the anti-human rights violence in 2021 and 2023.
All four of these men have been sanctioned under Executive Order 13818, which targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world.
“Today’s action underscores our concern about the consequences of anti-democratic actions in Georgia and efforts by key individuals to use violence and intimidation to achieve their aims,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith. “The United States remains committed to holding accountable those who seek to undermine the rights of the Georgian people.”
