Statement by Member States of the CoD Governing Council

regarding protests in Georgia

We, the undersigned members of the Community of Democracies Governing Council (Canada, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Norway, Romania, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States), strongly condemn the Georgian Dream party’s disproportionate and unjustified violence against Georgian citizens, protesters, members of the media, and opposition figures. We call on Georgian Dream to cease its repressive tactics, including its use of arbitrary detention and physical violence, to attempt to silence its critics. We condemn the Georgian authorities’ excessive use of force against Georgian people seeking to exercise their freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of opinion and of expression – respect for which is included in the 2000 Warsaw Declaration principles. The undersigned members also express deep concern over the political situation and recent electoral process in Georgia.

The undersigned members of the Community of Democracies Governing Council use this opportunity to call on the Georgian authorities to return to the democratic path based on respect for the rule of law and for the human rights and freedoms of its citizens, as well as on adherence to its constitutional commitments, and to conduct a transparent and objective investigation into reported irregularities during and in the lead-up to the October 26 parliamentary elections.