Georgian Parliament official defends NGO account freeze, dismissing EU concerns over democracy

Giorgi Sosiashvili, the Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science, and Youth Affairs, on Saturday criticised a statement by EU Spokesperson Anitta Hipper, who called on the Georgian Government to reverse its decision to freeze the bank accounts of several non-governmental organisations amid the ongoing investigation.

In his remarks, Sosiashvili argued that the Government’s actions were necessary to prevent destabilisation and accused certain domestic NGOs of channeling funds toward violent activities.

“When you find dozens of warehouses in the capital stocked with pyrotechnics, so-called Molotov cocktails, and similar materials mobilised for a coup attempt, and when enormous sums of money flow from the accounts of these pseudo-NGOs to finance it, the state has a responsibility to act”, the Parliament official said.

“If the Government steps in to prevent our children from losing their future and to keep our country from turning into a land of misfortune - how is that an attack on democracy? Huge sums were being spent, not on democratic processes, but on radicalization and assaults against the Georgian state”, he concluded.