Lithuania has banned entry to 74 more Georgian officials due to human rights violations in Georgia and repression in the country.
This was reported by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budris.
The minister announced that Lithuania has added 74 Georgian officials to the list of persons banned from entering the country due to serious human rights violations and repression in Georgia.
"We support the Georgian people in their pursuit of democracy and a European future," he added.
Latvia, along with Lithuania, has indefinitely banned entry to 16 Georgian citizens, declaring them persona non grata. Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže did not explain the reasons for this decision.
It is currently unknown which officials Latvia and Lithuania have imposed restrictions against.
Whatʼs happening in Georgia?
Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia in October 2024. According to the CEC, the pro-government, pro-Russian party "Georgian Dream — Democratic Georgia" won, gaining 53.9% of the vote. Under Georgian law, this party has the right to form a government alone. The European Parliament did not recognize the election results.
Four more pro-Western opposition parties broke the 5% barrier. The opposition and the president disagreed with the results, and protests began.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze reported on November 28, 2024, that Georgia was abandoning EU accession negotiations until 2028. He explained that 2028 would supposedly be the time when Georgia would be economically ready to begin accession negotiations. After that, large-scale protests began in the country, which were dispersed by security forces using water cannons and tear gas.
Amid the violent dispersal of the rallies, various countries imposed sanctions and restrictions, and some suspended funding for Georgia.
Thus, the US suspended the US-Georgian strategic partnership, Georgian representatives in several EU countries and the US announced that they were resigning from their duties. Ukraine also imposed sanctions against the Georgian authorities for the crackdown on protests. The United Kingdom will also suspend support for the Georgian authorities and limit cooperation with them.
And the EU Council suspended the visa-free regime for Georgian diplomats and officials.
On December 14 last year, the presidential elections in Georgia were held. Their legitimacy was not recognized by the incumbent President Salome Zurabishvili and opposition parties. The electoral college, in which the pro-government “Georgian Dream” party has an absolute majority, elected Mikheil Kavelashvili as the head of state.
Due to this, the single-party parliament has passed a number of bills, one of which would strip Zurabishvili of state protection after the end of her presidential term.
In October, Georgiaʼs Constitutional Court ruled that Zurabishvili had violated the law by visiting Europe without government approval. The government had denied the president access to meetings abroad, so she traveled to European partners at her own expense.
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