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<\/a><\/p>\nStephen Doughty, the UK Minister for Europe at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), issued a sharply worded statement condemning the Georgian authorities\u2019 actions. \u201cI am deeply concerned by the recent sentencing of several prominent Georgian opposition figures,\u201d Doughty said. \u201cThese sentences appear to be politically motivated and are clearly intended to block the opposition\u2019s participation in the upcoming elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Minister recalled that on June 23, the UK had already urged the ruling Georgian Dream party to stop abusing the judiciary to silence dissent and to release all political prisoners. He also noted that the FCDO summoned Georgia\u2019s acting ambassador on June 30 to express the UK\u2019s \u201cstrong opposition to Georgia\u2019s increasingly harmful trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doughty said that on July 1 he chaired an emergency meeting with like-minded European democrats to discuss the situation in Georgia and potential response measures.<\/p>\n
The UK has previously raised concerns over recent repressive legislation affecting civil society and the media, as well as restrictions on freedom of assembly and arbitrary arrests. The growing anti-Western rhetoric from Georgian Dream leaders has also been a matter of alarm for the UK government.<\/p>\n
In his statement, Doughty recalled a recent conversation with Georgia\u2019s 5th President Salome Zurabishvili on June 18, during which he expressed support for her efforts to protect democratic values in Georgia. Additionally, on June 26, the British ambassador in Tbilisi raised the UK\u2019s concerns directly with Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether with our partners, we are actively exploring various options to respond to recent actions,\u201d Doughty emphasized.<\/p>\n
Despite the tensions, the UK reaffirmed its continued support for Georgia\u2019s Euro-Atlantic aspirations. \u201cThe UK\u2019s support for Georgia\u2019s Euro-Atlantic path remains unwavering. We are ready to assist Georgia in returning to European values and democratic norms,\u201d the statement concluded.<\/p>\n
Yesterday\u2019s meetings with ministers and EU representatives in Brussels, held before the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, was also attended by Giorgi Gakharia, Chairman of Gakharia for Georgia party. During the meetings, Gakharia once again voiced his main message regarding the alleged suspension of visa-free regime for Georgia: \u201cMy message in Brussels is clear and unchanged: the Georgian people should not be punished for the brutal repressions of the \u2018Georgian Dream\u2019 regime,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
He emphasized the need to agree on concrete, targeted measures that will hold those truly responsible accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is essential to reach an agreement on specific, targeted measures that will place full responsibility on those who are truly guilty,\u201d Gakharia stated.<\/p>\n
He further emphasized the crucial importance and urgent necessity of unified and coordinated actions by the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States in supporting the Georgian people.<\/p>\n
As a result of his efforts and the meetings he held, the process of suspending visa liberalization was postponed, as the ministers agreed that the Georgian people should not be punished for the government\u2019s anti-democratic actions.<\/p>\n
Polish Foreign Minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski has voiced strong concerns about the political situation in Georgia following a meeting with Gakharia. Sikorski said Gakharia provided detailed information about the ongoing persecution of the opposition by the current government.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met with the former Prime Minister of Georgia, who informed me about the persecution of the opposition in that country,\u201d Sikorski stated. \u201cPoland has shifted its focus\u2014from supporting the Georgian government\u2019s European aspirations, which it has clearly abandoned, to standing with Georgia\u2019s civil society.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that Poland is exploring the possibility of sanctions against individuals responsible for political repression. \u201cWe support the EU High Representative Kaja Kallas\u2019s approach to push the Georgian government to end the persecution of opposition voices,\u201d he noted. \u201cI spoke to a former prime minister whose charges seem entirely fabricated. Poland supports the Georgian people and their pro-European aspirations.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/sikorski.webp.webp\")
Polish Foreign Minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski<\/p>\n
Sikorski also expressed hope that the Georgian government would return to the commitments it made during the elections, rather than continuing down a path that distances the country from Europe.<\/p>\n
Emphasizing that the Georgian people should not be punished for the government\u2019s actions, Sikorski said, \u201cI was born in communist Poland. Even under an authoritarian regime, we had the chance to travel, and countries like Austria, Sweden, and West Berlin gave us visa-free access. It was a window to the world. That\u2019s why we believe sanctions should target those responsible for repression\u2014not the people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United Kingdom has expressed strong concern over what it describes as politically motivated actions by the Georgian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,2108,57,58,50,2109,56,2110,54,55],"class_list":["post-3122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-giorgi-gakharia","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-sentences-against-georgian-opposition-leaders","tag-uk","tag-uk-foreign-secretary","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}