Over 20 foreign citizens to be deported from Georgia for participating in protests

The Georgian government is planning to deport 25 foreigners for participating in mass protests in November and December 2024, News Georgia reported on Jan. 4, citing a Georgian Interior Ministry statement.

The pro-Russian Georgian Dream party claimed a sweeping victory in the Oct. 26 elections amid widespread allegations of fraud and intimidation. The disputed results triggered mass demonstrations in Tbilisi.

The Migration Department of the Georgian Interior Ministry has initiated expulsion proceedings against 25 foreign nationals who participated in the protests in Tbilisi in November and December. The court also imposed various administrative penalties on them.

The ministry added that 10 out of 25 citizens have already left Georgia's territory, without specifying which countries they are citizens of.

There are no official statistics on foreigners detained during the protests. Over 20 of the nearly 450 arrested were foreign nationals, most of them Russians, News Georgia reported, citing reports by NGOs and other media.

In December, foreigners who attended the protests began to be summoned en masse to the Migration Department.

Human rights activists noted that this practice did not comply with international standards and warned that the deportation of foreign nationals for participating in peaceful demonstrations was contrary to national law.

Some 91 foreigners were ordered to leave the country between November and December 2024. According to News Georgia, more than a quarter of them participated in anti-government protests.

The ruling party, founded by oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, has led Georgia closer to the Kremlin while hindering its accession to the European Union. The controversial foreign agents law adopted earlier this year led the EU to effectively freeze Georgia's accession process.

The parliamentary elections and ensuing political crisis sparked a wave of large-scale demonstrations in Tbilisi. A second round of protests kicked off when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Georgia's integration into the EU could be postponed until 2028.

Protests in Georgia, explained

For the fifth day in a row, Georgians are holding massive protests against their government in the country’s capital, Tbilisi. The brewing dissatisfaction was ignited by the country’s democratic backsliding under the leadership of the pro-Russian, increasingly illiberal government. The final straw…

The Kyiv IndependentElsa Court