Georgia has been identified by Freedom House among six new countries using tactics of “transnational repression,” alongside Afghanistan, Benin, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, in a recent report on incidents in 2025 in which states silenced dissidents beyond their borders, including through assassination, assault, kidnapping, threats, and harassment.
According to the organization, “at least 54 governments, or over a quarter of all countries in the world, have tried to silence dissidents abroad.”
“More and more governments are attempting to silence critics who have fled their home countries to seek freedom. This disturbing trend should be a wake-up call for policymakers around the world,” said Jamie Fly, CEO of Freedom House, as quoted in the organization’s press release. He added, “Our research shows that authoritarians are increasingly working together to target individuals abroad, and their tactics are growing more sophisticated. Democracies must do more to combat this authoritarian abuse of their sovereignty and their freedoms.”
While not citing any specific cases or figures related to Georgia, the new report identifying the country among those involved in “transnational repression” follows several high-profile, controversial cases.
In May 2025, Giorgi Bachiashvili, a former aide of Bidzina Ivanishvili, was arrested following what he described as his abduction from abroad involving then State Security Service Chief Anri Okhanashvili. Bachiashvili, who had been found guilty in several high-profile cases and sentenced to multiple years in prison, was released in February this year after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors.
On April 5, 2026, Georgia deported journalist Afgan Sadygov to Azerbaijan after arresting him and finding him guilty of “insulting” a police officer on social media. Officials argued that Azerbaijan’s earlier decision to drop the criminal case against Sadigov made a prior interim measure by the European Court of Human Rights – which had barred Tbilisi from extraditing him – no longer relevant. Sadigov’s lawyers, however, disputed the legality of the deportation, warning that he could face serious risks in Azerbaijan. Sadigov was briefly detained in Baku.
Freedom House also recently downgraded Georgia’s democracy score by four points to 51 out of 100, marking the “largest” decline in the Eurasia region and maintaining the country’s status as “partly free.”
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