TBILISI, July 15. /TASS/. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has lodged a suit with the country’s Constitutional Court against the foreign agents law, the president’s parliamentary secretary, Georgy Mskhiladze, said.
"The Georgian president has for the first time filed a suit with the Constitutional Court. The suit challenges the law on the transparency of foreign influence, the so-called Russian law. This law runs counter to the country’s constitution," he told a briefing.
According to Mskhiladze, the president challenges a range of the law’s norms and articles as they contradict Article 78 of the Georgian constitution, which says that all power branches must spare no effort within their competences towards Georgia’s integration into the European Union and NATO. The country’s parliament will be the defendant before the court.
The Georgian legislature passed a bill On Transparency of Foreign Influence, also known as the foreign agent bill, in the third reading on May 14. President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the law on May 18, but parliament overrode her veto on May 28.
Non-governmental organizations warned that they would not register if the law is passed because they object to the idea of branding themselves as organizations advocating interests of a foreign force. The ruling party however insists that this is a right definition if these organizations are financed from abroad that the only thing required from them is financial transparency.
The law applies to non-government organizations and mass media outlets that receive more than of 20% of funding from abroad. They will be obliged to submit their tax returns to the justice ministry in January each year. Otherwise, they will be fined 25,000 lari (over $9,100). If the income declaration is not filed after the fine is levied, they will have to pay 20,000 lari (over $7,300) for each day of the delay.