A fading Georgian flag. Image by Arzu Geybullayeva. Created using Canva Pro.

The detention of opposition politician Nika Melia on May 29, coupled with a wave of arbitrary entry bans and expulsions targeting activists, journalists, and even diplomats, paints a grim picture of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) government's intent to silence dissent and consolidate power. The country's sinking ranking on international freedom indexes underscores how the ruling government is drifting away from its former European aspirations.

Melia, who is one of the leaders in the opposition political alliance Coalition for Change, is not the only opposition politician facing detention. On May 22, Zurab Japaridze, leader of the Girchi – More Freedom party, was also detained.  GD officials detained Japaridze after he refused to participate in what he termed a “fake” anti-United National Movement (UNM) commission. UNM is the former ruling party, and it was in power from 2003 until GD won the 2012 parliamentary elections. Both detentions are part of a larger pattern of the ruling party's escalating crackdown on the opposition.

The commission, established in February 2025 to investigate the UNM during the party’s time in power, has since expanded its scope to the present day, thereby allowing GD to potentially implicate any opposition figure. GD soon initiated criminal cases against several opposition politicians — Japaridze and Melia among them — who refused to appear before the commission. If convicted, the politicians can face fines, up to a year in prison, or a three-year prohibition on public office.

When Japaridze refused to pay his initial GEL 20,000 (USD 7,300) bail, the Prosecutor’s Office requested that his bail be replaced with pre-trial detention, which the court granted on May 22. The sequence of events follows a pattern of legal harassment and politically motivated charges against those who challenge the government's narrative. Other opposition party members, as well as the country's former president, Salome Zourabichvili, attended Japaridze's trial. Domestic and international response was swift.

UK Minister of Parliament James MacCleary tweeted:

Georgia continues down its slippery slope of political repression.

Opposition politician Japaridze must be released now.

The Georgian Dream govt and their oligarch puppet master Ivanishvili have crossed another line. UK govt sanctions should follow. https://t.co/rdXuZ2zSgj

— James MacCleary MP (@JamesMacCleary) May 22, 2025

The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed its solidarity:

We are deeply concerned by the detention of Zurab Japaridze, leader of the 🇬🇪 opposition Girchi More Freedom party. Democratic decline, along with repressive actions against civic society, including unfounded detentions, is the way to nowhere. Our solidarity with Zurab Japaridze!

— Lithuania MFA | #StandWithUkraine (@LithuaniaMFA) May 24, 2025

The Swedish ambassador to Georgia, Anna Lyberg, noted:

🇸🇪 is concerned by the developments in Georgia with growing pressure on the opposition including arrests of opposition leaders like Zurab Japaridze and adoption of repressive laws threatening the democracy. These actions are not in line with EU values.

— Anna Lyberg (@annalyb) May 24, 2025

In an Editor's Letter at Civil Georgia, Nata Koridze, Japaridze's wife, noted, “GD chose power over progress, authoritarianism over democracy, and the past over the future. It turned away from EU membership, a goal that the vast majority of Georgians share and that, as is now clear, the GD and its founder never supported in good faith.” She also announced she would be stepping down from her role as managing editor at Civil Georgia to be with her family, because she did not want her “personal circumstances” to “compromise the professional mission” of the Tbilisi-based independent news platform.

Denials of entry and punitive fines

The arrests are taking place against a wider backdrop of the ruling GD party seeking to limit scrutiny and criticism. On May 20, British journalist Will Neal was denied entry to Georgia, where he has lived since 2022. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that Neal was likely denied entry due to his investigative reporting. According to OC Media, an independent outlet covering the Caucasus, the government is weaponizing overly vague Georgian legislation to “bar people, including Western activists and journalists critical of the governments in Tbilisi and Moscow, from entering the country.”

In recent months, numerous individuals, including a Belarusian activist, French, Swiss, and Czech journalists, and even an EU diplomat, have either been turned away at Georgia's borders or deported without clear justification. The Ministry of the Interior was quick to respond to the entry ban against the EU diplomat, citing a “technical problem” and changing none of its practices. Since June 2024, the ministry has prevented 228 foreign nationals from entering the country, including 15 nationals in May 2025.

On May 13, the ruling Georgian Dream party passed, in its first reading, a legislative package allowing expulsions and reentry bans for various administrative offenses, including what it terms “petty hooliganism,” disobeying police, violating assembly rules, assaulting officials, and breaching travel regulations. Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze stated that these measures could specifically target foreigners participating in anti-government protests.

On May 29, Polish and French embassies in Tbilisi issued travel warnings to their citizens considering travel to Georgia, including facing potential entry bans and fines.

Compounding these measures are punitive fines handed down to Georgian citizens who publicly criticize members of the ruling party, as the legislative amendments have significantly increased administrative and criminal liability.

Meanwhile, local journalists have been subject to arrest and intimidation; now, they must also wrestle with this legislative measure. In January 2025, the founder and director of the independent newspaper Batumelebi and the online outlet Netgazeti, Mzia Amaghlobeli, was remanded in custody for allegedly assaulting a police officer. If convicted, she faces four to seven years in prison. In response to Amaghlobeli's arrest, a group of local journalists launched a new movement promising to “use all local and international platforms for Mzia’s freedom.”

“The scale of the crackdown on the media since November 28, following the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to halt Georgia’s negotiation talks with the EU, has been unprecedented,” read a December 2024 letter, co-signed by international media freedom and rights watch groups. It highlighted the cases of more than 90 media workers who were subject to physical attacks, verbal abuse, and other forms of police violence while covering the pro-EU demonstrations.

Track record on decline

The country's standing in global freedom indexes has plummeted. In the RSF 2025 World Press Freedom Index, Georgia's fall of 11 spots to 114th place categorizes it as a “difficult” country for press freedom. This sharp decline reflects increasing physical violence against journalists, the imprisonment of media workers, and growing political control over public broadcasters.

RSF specifically highlighted concerns about the revised “foreign influence” law, which threatens independent media outlets receiving foreign funding. The Europe Press Freedom Report noted that Georgia experienced the steepest surge in journalist safety alerts among Council of Europe member states in 2024, with numerous attacks on journalists during pro-EU protests. Another report by DW Akademie concluded that Georgia's democratic gains have stalled, with a marked deterioration in media freedom driven by political polarization, government pressure, lack of journalist safety, and a challenging economic environment for independent media. 

Furthermore, the V-Dem Institute's 2025 Democracy Report downgraded Georgia to an “electoral autocracy,” citing a significant democratic backslide since 2018, with 2024 marking “the largest one-year decline since Georgia's independence.” The report underscored electoral irregularities, Russian meddling, media bias favoring the incumbent party, and increased legal and financial barriers to party formation.

Last year, Amnesty International's report on Georgia pointed to the ruling party's continued usurpation of power and suppression of dissent, noting new legislative amendments that expand state and police powers while unduly restricting peaceful protests and undermining civil society.