The Trump administration should issue a clear warning to the Georgian government: political intimidation against democratic opposition leaders will meet U.S. reprisals, including targeted sanctions.
That robust action is necessary after the government’s escalation over the past few days.
The most concerning development is the news that, along with other senior opposition officials, a top Georgian member of Parliament, Giga Bokeria, has been summoned for questioning over supposed corruption between 2010 and 2013. I have met and trust Bokeria, and I’m reliably informed that these charges represent a trumped-up effort to intimidate the opposition into ending its protests against the government. Those protests have been escalating over the past few weeks in response to the government’s breach of its promise to enact electoral reform.
Ironically, Bokeria and the other officials apparently targeted include those most known for their anti-corruption and pro-American stances. One mentioned official is former Georgian Ambassador to the United States Batu Kutelia. This must not stand.
The United States is a longstanding ally of Georgia’s pro-American people, but Georgians are confronted by Russian aggression in a similar vein to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression toward Ukraine. Unfortunately, under wannabe James Bond villain Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia is tolerating that aggression and moving closer to the Kremlin and its autocratic values.
To counter these developments, the Trump administration should first put its name to a recent bipartisan letter by Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Gerry Connolly, calling on Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia to change course. But the administration should also add a warning: If the Georgian government continues to trample on the rights of its citizens and a free opposition, the U.S. will hold all those responsible to account where it hurts most, in their bank accounts and in their ability to trade and travel internationally.
That might get the government to wake up.
