The U.S. Treasury Department and the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) continue their efforts to ignite a color revolution in Georgia. The Treasury announced in a Dec. 19 press release: “Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning two Georgian officials from Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs which has engaged in brutal crackdowns on media members, opposition figures, and protesters—including during demonstrations throughout 2024. These officials are being sanctioned under Executive Order (E.O.) 13818 (Global Magnitsky).... The violence perpetrated by the Special Task Department was overseen by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Vakhtang Gomelauri (Gomelauri), and a Deputy Head of the Special Task Department, Mirza Kezevadze (Kezevadze).” The release specified, “This action was coordinated with the United Kingdom, which today designated five individuals responsible for human rights violations in Georgia,” said the Treasury, linking to the British FCDO release.
The press release said that “security forces from the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Task Department responded to protests with disproportionate violence to suppress dissent and discourage protesters. The Special Task Department utilized tactics including mass beatings, verbal abuse, and threats of sexual violence. Police violence … occurred while individuals were in police custody, in detention, and at locations outside the protest area.”
Someone watching the street demonstrations in front of the Georgian Parliament over the past weeks would have noticed the only apparent violence had come from demonstrators who flashed lasers flashed into policemen’s eyes, lobbed fireworks, and set outright fires launched against Georgian police officers, 113 of whom have been injured.
