The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), a human rights watchdog, has filed another lawsuit with the country’s Constitutional Court, challenging a provision of the Law on Grants that the Anti-Corruption Bureau, a state body, has used to begin monitoring civil society organizations.
GYLA said in an October 1 statement that the lawsuit concerns Article 6¹ of the law, which “authorizes the Anti-Corruption Bureau, with the court’s approval, to request from non-governmental organizations, banks or any state institution data containing special category and other personal data, as well as any confidential information, except for state secrets.”
The law, amended by the Georgian Dream-led parliament in April requiring foreign donors to obtain government’s approval before disbursing funds to local organizations, has been used by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, led by Razhden Kuprashvili, who is widely seen as a ruling party loyalist, to launch a new wave of inspections against the CSOs since September, as GYLA says more than 60 organizations, including itself, have been affected so far.
GYLA also said the bureau gave organizations only three days to submit large amounts of information, even though the law does not set a specific deadline for providing the data. “This circumstance allows the Anti-Corruption Bureau to impose unreasonably short terms, creating additional barriers for organizations that are incompatible with the provisions of the constitution,” the group said.
“Disputed norms are incompatible with the right to freedom of association protected under Article 22(1) of the Constitution of Georgia. Furthermore, the imposition of an unreasonably short term violates the right to a fair hearing before an administrative body, protected under Article 18(1) of the Constitution,” GYLA argued.
This is the second lawsuit GYLA has filed with the Constitutional Court. The first, submitted in August, sought to overturn provisions of the Law on Grants and a related government ordinance that barred groups from receiving grants without government approval.
Until the final ruling, GYLA has also requested the Constitutional Court to “suspend the operation of the disputed norms establishing the monitoring mechanisms,” urging the court to “fulfill its functions and in a timely manner convene a preliminary hearing to suspend the operation of the challenged norms.”
The Anti-Corruption Bureau’s request under the Law on Grants came after the agency had already targeted civil society groups in June in its first inspection under three different laws, including the Law on Grants, and again in August under Georgian Dream’s version of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The bureau requested extensive data from the organizations, including sensitive information about their beneficiaries. The organizations have pledged to defy the demand.
In August, authorities froze the bank accounts of seven CSOs under the “sabotage” probe, claiming the groups funded protesters “who committed violent acts” against police during 2024 rallies.
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