Georgian NGOs to apply to Constitutional Court against transparency law

Tbilisi: Georgia’s non-governmental organizations has announced to approach to the Georgia Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights to suspend the implementation  of the controversial  provision of the recently passed controversial law on foreign agents’ law.

 

It is to be specifically mentioned that the Georgian parliament  after vetoing the President’s veto adopted the Agents law. The Ruling party, Georgian Dream  which has the thumping majority in Parliament overrode the President’s veto. They also ignored all the speculation and other opposition from regional and international countries.

 

During the announcement  the representative of the civil society organization stated that  “ they  will use every step to utilize the  internal and international mechanism to make sure  suspension of the  operation of controversial law  until the end of its unconditional termination.”

 

They further said the Court has every power and should use its constitutional power to suspend the operation of controversial laws. They further underlined that they could also “use alternative legal ways” if the body did not “act promptly” to address their genual problems.

The representative of the civil society organization further urged “all NGOs and media houses that could be affected by the law” to “join the fight under the single platform ” to suspend the controversial law. All the opposition forces should come forward against the legislative piece that requires registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” in case of they have been receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.

 

It is worth noting that the Georgian Parliament adopted the law on May 14 amid ongoing rallies in the capital, Tbilisi. The protestors also termed  this as Russian law due to strict provisions that can stifle independent media voices in the country. The president   used her veto power and did not give her assent to the bill. However the Parliament overrode the president’s veto and passed the law.