TBILISI/ LONDON – Britain on Thursday sanctioned five Georgian officials including the interior minister over a violent crackdown on pro-European Union protesters who have taken to the streets nightly since Tbilisi froze EU accession talks until 2028 last month.
In a statement, Britain’s foreign ministry said the five designated officials were responsible for violent attacks against journalists and peaceful protesters.
Georgia had been seen as one of the most democratic and pro-Western countries of the former Soviet Union, but critics say it is moving in an authoritarian and pro-Russian direction.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says it wants a democratic and pro-Western Georgia while maintaining pragmatic ties with neighbouring Russia, which ruled Georgia for 200 years until 1991.
Polls show EU accession is popular in Georgia. It is also written into the constitution.
The freeze sparked protests and a crackdown that has seen more than 400 people arrested, including high-profile pro-EU opposition leaders and activists. Georgia’s ombudsman has accused police and authorities of widespread brutality.
The government says more than 150 police officers have been injured in clashes with firework-throwing demonstrators pursuing a violent revolution.
The sanctions targeted senior figures in Georgia’s interior ministry, which oversaw the police’s disproportionate use of violence, the British government said in the notice.
Among the five are Georgian interior minister Vakhtang Gomelauri and Zviad Khazarishvili, head of an interior ministry department accused of masterminding attacks.
The EU has previously said the crackdown merited sanctions, while countries including Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have already imposed measures on senior Tbilisi officials and Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-prime minister widely regarded as the country’s paramount leader.
Russia has said it does not interfere in Georgia, though individual Russian officials have praised Georgian Dream.
Russia and Georgia have had no formal diplomatic relations since Moscow defeated Tbilisi in a five-day war in 2008. REUTERS
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Publish date : 2024-12-19 06:38:00
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