Exactly one year ago, Bidzina Ivanishvili’s government blocked Georgia’s path to European development.

On 28 November 2024, the Georgian Dream Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, publicly announced that opening accession negotiations with the European Union was removed from the agenda. This decision is not only politically criminal but also a direct insult to the will of the Georgian public and an explicit violation of Article 78 of the Constitution of Georgia.

With this step, Ivanishvili’s government sacrificed the Georgian state and the Georgian people, left the country alone in the face of the Russian threat, and cut it off from the Western world toward which we have aspired for centuries.

Russian political circles welcomed Georgian Dream’s decision, as it fully aligns with the interests of Putin’s Russia. However, the Georgian people did not accept this step and have been tirelessly fighting for our country’s European future for an entire year.

During this year, Georgian Dream has launched unprecedented repression against its own people, whose only motivation is love for their country:

• Criminal investigations have been launched against around 160 citizens;

• Nearly 300 protesters have been subjected to torture or inhuman treatment;

• More than 600 people have been detained under administrative charges;

• Over 1,000 citizens have been fined on political grounds;

• There have been around 400 cases of journalists being arrested, beaten, or harassed;

• Anti-democratic laws have been adopted that effectively force civil society organizations to cease operating.

Today, Bidzina Ivanishvili’s government, on a daily basis:

• Arrests leaders of political parties and plans to ban opposition parties;

• Persecutes civil society and punishes solidarity and compassion;

• Empties state institutions of professionals and honest public servants.

All of this has placed Georgia in international isolation. Relations with the European Union and the United States have deteriorated drastically. Every day, the Georgian Dream government insults our Western partners and spreads disinformation about their leaders.

But even in these difficult circumstances, we remember well the words of Ilia Chavchavadze: “A person’s freedom is nothing more than to be fully restrained from evil and abundantly open toward good.”

That is precisely why the Georgian people have not broken.

Georgian society does not want to live under Russian authoritarianism. Our nation continues to stand guard over independence, dignity, and a European future.

We fight for Georgia to return to its European path of development, where:

• The rights of every citizen are protected;

• No power can steal the people’s choice;

• No one is imprisoned for political reasons;

• The European future is secured through a real, not an illusory, choice.

We thank everyone who has joined this struggle, who has not given up, and who is helping us build a European, free, and democratic Georgia together.

Signatory Organizations:

• Transparency International Georgia
• Georgia’s Future Academy
• European Orbit of Georgia
• Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC)
• Prevention for Progress
• Women’s Initiative Support Group
• Green Alternative
• Democracy Research Institute (DRI)
• Civil Society Foundation
• Civil Movement for Freedom (CMF)
• Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies
• Human Rights Center (HRC)
• Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI)
• Institute for Tolerance and Diversity (TDI)
• Partnership for Human Rights (PHR)
• Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA)
• Kvareli Euroclub
• Tbilisi Pride
• International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)
• Democracy Defenders
• Sapari