Georgian Parliament Speaker challenges domestic NGO Sapari on funding transparency amid defamation lawsuit threat

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday publicly responded to Baia Pataraia, the head of the domestic NGO Sapari, regarding her threat to sue him for defamation over comments on the organisation's funding. Papuashvili asserted that the data he cited was publicly available on a website created by a European Parliament political group.

The controversy arose after Papuashvili claimed on social media that the European Union was providing €900,000 to Sapari, an organisation he accused of discrediting democratic institutions, disregarding legislation, running hate campaigns, organising rallies calling for the overthrow of the elected Government, and openly aiming to sabotage elections and violate citizens' electoral rights.

In an updated social media post, the Speaker addressed Pataraia's denial of the funding amount.

“The head of the Sapari organisation claimed in a comment to my post that ‘this is not the amount we receive from the European Union’. The data is publicly available on a website created by a political group of the European Parliament (ngotransparency.eu), which compiles official data obtained through parliamentary enquiries to the European Commission. So, if Sapari has any dispute, they can dispute it with the European Commission. However, since she is concerned about accuracy and to avoid misleading anyone, I am updating this post and giving Sapari the opportunity to make public the amount of money it received from the European Union between 2022 and 2024, especially since the law obliges them to do so. I will also immediately record the financially clarified amount”, the Speaker said.

“However, the main point in their comment is something else. It’s good that the head of Sapari could not call the part of my post defamatory where I state that they do not recognise democratic institutions, do not acknowledge legislation, conduct hate campaigns, organise rallies calling for the overthrow of the elected Government, and have a declared goal of violating citizens’ electoral rights through election sabotage. It seems that they are more concerned about the accounting accuracy of the received amount than being exposed to extremism”, he noted.

Papuashvili stood by his broader claim that EU funding for Sapari equated to support for extremism.

“My main point was this: the funding of such organisations by the European Union is tantamount to funding extremism”, he concluded.