Prosecutor’s Office freezes the bank accounts of seven more human rights and civil society organisations
On 19 June 2025, the Administrative Chamber of the Tbilisi City Court issued an order confirming that the Anti-Corruption Bureau has initiated an investigation into the activities of the human rights organisation Social Justice Center. The organisation is being investigated under the Law on Combatting Corruption, the Law on Grants, and the Law on Political Associations of Citizens. The authorities are demanding unrestricted access to information regarding the organisation’s work. The Social Justice Center plans to challenge this order in the Court of Appeal to protect their data.
The Social Justice Center is a human rights organisation based in Tbilisi, Georgia, dedicated to promoting human rights and social justice. Founded in 2012, the Center aims to address inequalities by creating a fair, inclusive, and democratic environment for all. It advocates for an inclusive understanding of citizenship and develops social and economic policies grounded in social justice, solidarity, and human rights. The Social Justice Centre seeks to improve the accessibility and human rights-standards of the Georgian justice and law-enforcement system. The organisation works with a wide range of groups, including women, children, people with disabilities, workers, LGBTQI+ people, ethnic and religious minorities, foreigners, environmental activists, prisoners, and clergy members.
On 27 August 2025, Tbilisi City Court granted permission to the Office of Georgia’s Prosecutor General to freeze the bank accounts of five human rights organisations: International Society of Fair Elections and Democracy, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, Georgian Democracy Initiative, UnAion Sapari, and Social Justice Center, as well as two civil society organisations: Civil Society Foundation (former Open Society Foundation) and Democracy Defenders. The Prosecutor’s office accused the organisations of financially supporting and socially endorsing the participants of violent protests against the re-election of the Georgian Dream Party to the Georgian Parliament in October 2024.
The Social Justice Center is a human rights organisation based in Tbilisi, Georgia, dedicated to promoting human rights and social justice. Founded in 2012, the Center aims to address inequalities by creating a fair, inclusive, and democratic environment for all. The Georgian Democratic Initiative (GDI) is an independent non-governmental organisation dedicated to protecting human rights, fostering tolerance and promoting an inclusive society. Union Sapari is a pioneering grassroots non-governmental organisation dedicated to empowering women and promoting equal rights in Georgia. The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation with one of the broadest regional networks in Georgia. Established in 1995, ISFED's primary objective is to conduct citizen monitoring of elections and related political processes. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), founded in 2009, is a leading non-governmental organisation based in Tbilisi, Georgia. The organisation monitors government actions and documents violations, disseminating this information to the public.
In a statement issued by the Office of Georgia’s Prosecutor General, the authorities claim that the above mentioned human rights organisations used their funds to support protests in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, including protests against the results of the Parliamentary Elections in 2024. The Office of Georgia’s Prosecutor General’s statement falsely links the fact that the organisations used funds to purchase protective equipment, such as protective goggles, face shields, and face masks, to the sporadic violence that erupted during the protests. The Office of Georgia’s Prosecutor General labeled the human rights work that the targeted organisations had been carrying out, including financial and legal support to the protesters and their relatives, as a coordinated attempt to “weaken law enforcement agencies and disrupt their normal functioning.” The authorities accused the organisations of encouraging the violence at the protests by making public statements and offering legal services to the detained protesters. Despite the fact that the organisations were simply carrying out their mandated human rights work, the Office of Georgia’s Prosecutor General accused them of financing illegal activities and ordered the freezing of their bank accounts on the basis that their activities were beyond the goals stated in their Charters.
Many of the targeted human rights organisations have already faced judicial harassment, defamation and intimidation for their work defending human rights. Since June 2025, the Anti-Corruption Bureau has initiated investigations into the activities of human rights organisations Social Justice Center, Union Sapari, and International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, demanding unrestricted access to information regarding their work. Moreover, earlier this year, in March 2025, the Office of Georgia’s Prosecutor General, in a similar manner, froze the bank accounts of human rights organisations 'Human Rights House Tbilisi' and 'Shame Movement' along with three other civil society organisations.
Front Line Defenders condemns the freezing of the bank accounts of human rights organisations International Society of Fair Elections and Democracy, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, Georgian Democracy Initiative, Union Sapari, and Social Justice Center', which it sees as a reprisal for their non-violent, peaceful and legitimate human rights work. Front Line Defenders also opposes the defamatory strategy of the Georgian authorities to purposefully equate the funding of violence at protests with providing legal and social support to arrested protesters. Rather than suspending the support provided by the key human rights organisations, the State must recognise the crucial role of human rights defenders and civil society, and foster an enabling environment for their human rights work.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Georgia to:
- Immediately repeal the decision to freeze the bank accounts of the human rights organisations, and ensure that these organisations are able to access their funds as soon as possible in order to continue their legitimate and peaceful work;
- Refrain from using financial means to limit and restrict the work of human rights organisations in Georgia;
- Cease issuing defamatory statements that stigmatise and delegitimise the work of human rights organisations in Georgia; and
- Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Georgia are able to carry out their human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, in line with Georgia’s international human rights obligations and commitments.
On 19 June 2025, the Administrative Chamber of the Tbilisi City Court issued an order confirming that the Anti-Corruption Bureau has initiated an investigation into the activities of the human rights organisation Social Justice Center. The organisation is being investigated under the Law on Combatting Corruption, the Law on Grants, and the Law on Political Associations of Citizens. The authorities are demanding unrestricted access to information regarding the organisation’s work. The Social Justice Center plans to challenge this order in the Court of Appeal to protect their data.
The Social Justice Center is a human rights organisation based in Tbilisi, Georgia, dedicated to promoting human rights and social justice. Founded in 2012, the Center aims to address inequalities by creating a fair, inclusive, and democratic environment for all. It advocates for an inclusive understanding of citizenship and develops social and economic policies grounded in social justice, solidarity, and human rights. The Social Justice Centre seeks to improve the accessibility and human rights-standards of the Georgian justice and law-enforcement system. The organisation works with a wide range of groups, including women, children, people with disabilities, workers, LGBTQI+ people, ethnic and religious minorities, foreigners, environmental activists, prisoners, and clergy members.
As part of the investigation against the Social Justice Center, the Georgian Anti-Corruption Bureau has requested access to the organisation’s legal, technical, and financial data covering the period from January 2024 to June 2025. The Bureau also demands detailed information about the support provided to the Centre’s beneficiaries, including their personal information, as well as information about the organisation’s correspondence. The Social Justice Center has reported that the court order requires them to comply with this request within just three days.
According to a briefing circulated by the Social Justice Center, six other organisations received the same court order on 18 and 19 June 2025. During a briefing on 18 June, Razhden Kuprashvili, the head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, stated that the requested information would be used to examine the purpose of the activities of organisations that receive grants or engage in political activity. In their motion submitted to the Court the Anti-Corruption Bureau requested information from organisations based on four laws: the Law on Combatting Corruption, the Law on Grants, the Law on Political Associations of Citizens, and the Law on Registration of Foreign Agents (FARA). The Court granted the Bureau’s request based on the first three laws mentioned but did not mention the Foreign Agents Registration Act in its ruling. Lawyer Saba Brachveli stated in an interview that, although the Court granted the Bureau’s request on three legal grounds, the ruling should have included reasoning as to why the motion was not granted based of the fourth law, FARA.
In April 2024, the Georgian Parliament adopted a Russian-inspired Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence which mandates that organisations receiving foreign funding register as “organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” This law imposes reporting obligations that, subject human rights defenders to scrutiny and potential administrative penalties. In April 2025, the government enacted the Law on Registration of Foreign Agents (FARA), which requires individuals or organisations seen as acting in the interest of a foreign entity – often based on foreign funding – to register as foreign agents. Non-compliance may lead to sanctions and criminal penalties. This Law is similar to the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act in the United States. Human rights defenders who opposed the laws and joined the protests in Tbilisi in May 2024 faced a defamation and intimidation campaign.
Front Line Defenders expresses grave concern over the administrative harassment against the Social Justice Center for their peaceful and legitimate human rights work. It is alarming that such harassment is facilitated by a set of laws targeting organisations based on foreign funding. This undermines the essential work of human rights defenders and organisations. Front Line Defenders emphasises that laws stigmatising foreign funding can have a lasting and significant impact on the development of human rights movements, severely restricting the ability of human rights defenders to carry out their work.
Front Line Defenders calls upon the authorities of Georgia to:
1. Immediately and unconditionally cease the malicious and unjustified investigation into the activities of the Social Justice Center;
2. Repeal the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence and the Law on Registration of Foreign Agents, as they aim solely to hinder the work of human rights defenders;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Georgia are able to carry out their human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, in line with Georgia’s international human rights obligations and commitments.
