Tbilisi: The President of the Republic of Georgia once again highlighted the controversies surrounding the foreign agent law. The President has asked the constitutional court to repeal the law, which was adopted despite being vetoed by her.
The president’s statement came on Monday. In her latest statement the President demanded the constitutional court in a lawsuit to immediately suspend the controversial law and then repeal it as a priority. She also condemned the ruling regime which adopted the law earlier this year to stifle independent voices throughout the country.
It is worth mentioning that this is the first time when an incumbent president has called the constitutional court to repeal the law while applying with a lawsuit. The lawsuit concerns the foreign influence transparency law which is usually termed as ‘Russian law.’ Meanwhile the President’s secretary of Parliament affairs, Giorgi Mskhiladze stated that the law is unconstructive and against the country’s democratic values.
Speaking further specifically on the issue he added “The adoption of the foreign agents law is a grave violation of Article 78. Article 78 of Georgian law defines Integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures. At the same time many other law’s provisions have been challenged in lawsuits which have allegedly violated the basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
Notably the controversial law required non-governmental organizations and other civil society organizations to register. Moreover if these organizations receive more than twenty percent of their funding from a foreign country, then they will be considered agents pursuing the interests of a foreign power.
Notably, the President vetoed the bill when it was sent to her for assent. However despite the president’s veto the speaker of the Georgian parliament approved the bill as the speaker was vested with the right to approve the law in case the president vetoed it. There were large-scale protests against the law throughout the country. Many foreign countries also criticised the move of the Georgian Dream Party to overturn the president’s veto.
