On the case of Elene Khoshtaria and political prisoners under the Georgian Dream regime

B100171/2026

European Parliament resolution on the case of Elene Khoshtaria and political prisoners under the Georgian Dream regime

(2026/2643(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Georgia,

– having regard to Rule 150(5) of its Rules of Procedure.

whereas Georgia has been experiencing severe democratic backsliding, in particular since the parliamentary elections of October 2024;

whereas Georgian authorities have detained hundreds of persons and launched thousands of administrative proceedings against people protesting peacefully against the manipulation of election results, the democratic backsliding and authoritarian repression;

whereas opposition politicians were detained and sentenced to several years of imprisonment, among them Elene Khoshtaria;

whereas journalists have been imprisoned, among them investigative journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, who was awarded with the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament in 2025, was illegally sentenced to two years and continues to be imprisoned despite her appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia;

1. Reiterates its solidarity with the people of Georgia fighting for their democratic rights and the European future of their country and therefore urges the Georgian authorities to end their descent into authoritarianism as well as their systematic repression against the people of Georgia;

2. Strongly condemns the continued adoption of restrictive legislation that increasingly curtails fundamental freedoms and seeks to suppress political activity, civic protests and dissent, and urges to repeal these restrictive laws and return to implementing the will of the Georgian people for continued democratic reforms that would reopen the prospect of future EU membership;;

3. Reiterates its call to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners and other illegally detained persons, no matter whether they are representatives of political parties, media or civil society or have been detained for nothing less than exercising their constitutional rights by peacefully participating in protests against the curtailing of democracy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms in Georgia;

4. Reminds the Georgian authorities of their duty to respect the country’s constitution and international commitments, in particular the European Convention of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the commitments as a member of the Council of Europe and the OSCE; welcomes the invocation of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism by 23 OSCE participating states in January 2026 to assess Georgia’s implementation of commitments;

5. Reiterates its call for the EU to impose an EU-wide visa ban on Georgian officials that are responsible for or complicit in the democratic backsliding and repression of Georgian citizens; reminds the Hungarian and Slovak governments, of the principle of sincere cooperation according to Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union, which requires Member States to refrain from any measure that could jeopardise the achievement of the EU’s objectives;

6. Calls for the EU to increase support to Georgian civil society, independent media, and academic communities to ensure their continued work in the face of state-led repression;

7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission/ High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the Member States, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and to the Georgian authorities.