By Lucy Papachristou
(Reuters) – Georgian prosecutors said on Tuesday they had conducted searches at the apartments of five individuals who helped organise funding campaigns to support street protesters, amid a government crackdown on the rallies that have raged for months.
Georgians have taken to the streets nightly since November to voice opposition to a government decision to halt accession talks to the European Union, a reversal of a longstanding national goal in the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million.
The demonstrations have drawn a swift crackdown by police, resulting in hundreds of arrests and beatings, rights groups say. The government has defended the police response.
In a statement on Tuesday, the prosecutor’s office said the searches were part of an ongoing criminal investigation into sabotage, attempted sabotage, and the use of funds to violate the constitutional order, among other charges.
Prosecutors launched a probe last month into funding campaigns organised by civil society groups that assisted detained protesters with legal help and money to cover fines. The prosecutors accused the groups of encouraging the protesters to commit illegal acts at street rallies. Authorities froze those groups’ bank accounts as part of the investigation.
The five individuals who were searched on Tuesday are all affiliated with the civil society groups. Several of them wrote on Facebook that officers had confiscated their cell phones and laptops during the searches.
Four of the groups accused of helping the protesters did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters was not able to contact the fifth group, Foundation For Each Other 24/7.
Traditionally among the more pro-Western and democratic of the Soviet Union’s successor states, Georgia in recent years has tilted more towards Russia under the Georgian Dream (GD) party, in power since 2012.
As part of a broader government clampdown on Georgia’s pro-Western opposition, GD passed legislation this month banning foreign donor organisations from providing grants locally without government consent, with violators facing steep fines.
(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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