Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has mounted a challenge against the controversial foreign agent law in the constitutional court, arguing that the bill is anti-European, therefore unconstitutional.
Zourabichvili’s representatives submitted the appeal to the Court on Monday evening. It argues that the foreign agent law was in breach of Article 78 of Georgia’s constitution, which obliges constitutional bodies to ‘take all measures within the scope of their competences to ensure the full integration of Georgia into the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’.
The president’s secretary, Giorgi Mskhiladze, stated that they intended to challenge ‘a number of other norms’ of the bill too.
Upon vetoing the bill in mid-May, Zourabichvili stated the law not only hurt Georgia’s foreign policy, but also Georgians’ rights to equality and privacy.
The controversial law has been dubbed the ‘Russian law’ by critics, due to its similarity to Russian legislation used to quash dissent and criticism in Russia. The law was met with widespread domestic and international condmenation.
Several Georgian officials are believed to have been hit with US travel bans as a result of their support for the law or their participation in the crackdown on protesters against it, while the EU stated in late June that Georgia’s accession talks were ‘de facto’ on hold as a consequence of adopting the law.
Despite a constant stream of explicit statements stressing that Georgia stood no chance at moving forward with its EU membership talks while the law is in place, Georgian Dream have maintained that they would still be able to secure EU membership for Georgia by 2030.
On Tuesday, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom were the latest among media freedom advocacy groups to warn that stigmatising media through the foreign agent law would ‘further foster a climate of animosity towards independent journalists’ and ‘polish the target on the backs of journalists while simultaneously undermining public trust in their work’.
Zourabichvili’s constitutional challenge of the law appears to be a coordinated effort with major non-governmental organisations she met days before submitting the appeal. The groups had vowed to mount a legal challenge against the law on 30 May, two days after its adoption. They are expected to mount their own, separate appeal against the law, with a group of opposition MPs also planning to lodge their own appeal in court.
Both appeals are expected to seek a preliminary injunction to suspend the implementation of the foreign agent law until the case is settled. While the court might merge the cases, it could take months to issue any ruling on the law.
On 15 July, Public Defender Levan Ioseliani reiterated his criticism of the law and suggested he would also be involved in the legal case, possibly as an amicus curiae to offer his independent opinion to the court.
How independent is Georgia’s Constitutional Court?
Georgia’s judiciary has for years now been marred by allegations of being under the influence of Georgian Dream, with general courts falling under the purview of the High Council of Justice, a constitutional body run by what critics describe as a ‘clan of judges’ with close ties to the ruling party.
[Read more: US sanctions senior Georgian judges for ‘undermining rule of law’]
Georgia’s Constitutional Court has also been accused of being partial to the ruling party; in February 2022, the Constitutional Court rejected an appeal to reverse the abolition of the State Inspector’s Service. Two years earlier, the court also supported the ruling party’s decision to strip opposition leader Nika Melia of parliamentary immunity, deeming it constitutional.
Prior to this, the court had delivered controversial decisions that appeared to have irked the ruling party, including finding in 2018 that the administrative punishments for consuming cannabis was unconstitutional, and suspending a moratorium on purchasing agricultural land by foreign citizens.
However, since 2020, the court has been chaired by Merab Turava, a judge known for his outspoken stance against government pressure during the United National Movement’s rule between 2003–2012.
In 2023, the Constitutional Court ruled that President Zourabichvili was in breach of the constitution for conducting official visits abroad without the government’s prior approval. The verdict was reached with the minimum required six Constitutional Court justices, while the remaining three dissented.
The ruling paved the way for Georgian Dream to launch a failed impeachment attempt against Zourabichvili.
