Georgia is pivoting towards authoritarianism at a dizzying speed. After a contested election, pro-Russian Mikheil Kavelashvili is now the president of this former Soviet republic in the Caucasus. Barely inaugurated, he has already approved a series of legislative amendments intended to crush the pro-European protest movement and bring civil servants into line.
These measures, which came into effect on Monday, December 30, significantly increase fines for protesters, facilitate extrajudicial detentions and the dismissal of civil servants, expand the range of political appointments in the civil service and simplify the recruitment process for the police force.
“The regime is putting in place the legal framework to justify large-scale violent repression, arbitrary detentions and the torture of protesters,” explained Davit Zedelashvili, a constitutional law expert and researcher at the Tbilisi-based independent think tank Gnomon Wise. “This is in tandem with measures to purge the civil service and ensure the loyalty of civil servants. This blueprint, well-known in political science, is aimed at consolidating authoritarianism. This whole process is going to accelerate.”
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