UK sanctions Georgian officials over human rights abuse
Britain on Thursday the 10th April, 2025 sanctioned four Georgian officials, including the country's first Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Shalva Bedoidze, accusing them of allowing serious human rights violations.
Protests in Georgia have been ongoing since last year November, when the ruling Georgian Dream party said it was suspending European Union accession talks until 2028. The British government said Bedoidze had engaged in actions amounting to an infringement of individuals' rights to be free from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
"Specifically, during the protests that occurred following the announcement of the suspension of EU accession talks, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia oversaw the police force's disproportionate use of violence against protesters," it said.
Georgia has failed to properly investigate those responsible for the serious violence. All four Georgian officials sanctioned under Britain's global human rights sanctions regime are banned from traveling to the UK and their assets in the country have been frozen.
Britain and the U.S. had earlier imposed sanctions on other Georgian officials, including the interior minister, in December, 2024.
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