- summary
- Georgian Prosecutor's Office announces seizure of five foundations on March 17, 2025 as part of "sabotage" investigation (investigation started February 8). Funds frozen totaling over 2,000,000 GEL (~658,000 EUR) spent since December 2024. Prosecution claim: foundations directed "majority of financial resources toward encouraging individuals to commit illegal and criminal acts and purchasing equipment necessary to carry out crimes." ACTUAL FUNCTION: foundations provided legal and financial support to protest participants — paying fines (escalated 10x to 5,000 GEL), supporting families of imprisoned protesters, covering legal aid costs. TRIGGER: appeal by "United Neutral Georgia" (GD-aligned group) — leader Vato Shakarishvili told RFE/RL they observed "the trace of agents" in the funds' activities. GONGO TRIGGER: regime-aligned civil society organization initiates prosecution against independent foundations — inverted GONGO function. FINANCIAL MECHANISM: fines for protest activities escalated to 5,000 GEL (10x increase) — foundations crowd-fund to cover; freeze eliminates this resistance mechanism. CSOMeter: "The seizure of funds is designed to hinder and ultimately put an end to protests." Also: facial recognition cameras installed in protest areas — covering face now punishable offense.
- country
- Georgia
- date text
- 17/03/2025
- entities
- Prosecutor's Office of Georgia; "United Neutral Georgia" (GD-aligned trigger group); Vato Shakarishvili (UNG leader)
- entity type
- Government Official
- id
- 783
- name
- Prosecutor's Office of Georgia; "United Neutral Georgia" (GD-aligned trigger group); Vato Shakarishvili (UNG leader)
- role
- actor
- Nanuka Foundation; Prosperity Foundation; Foundation for Each Other 24/7; Sirtskhvilia Foundation; Tbilisi Human Rights House — five foundations providing financial support to p…
- entity type
- Individual Organization
- id
- 784
- name
- Nanuka Foundation; Prosperity Foundation; Foundation for Each Other 24/7; Sirtskhvilia Foundation; Tbilisi Human Rights House — five foundations providing financial support to protest participants
- role
- target
- Prosecutor's Office of Georgia; "United Neutral Georgia" (GD-aligned trigger group); Vato Shakarishvili (UNG leader)
- sources
- citation
- CSOMeter March 19 2025 (https://csometer.info — primary); RFE/RL Georgian Service (Shakarishvili quote)
- tactics
- Bank Account Freeze / Judicial Asset Seizure
- label
- Bank Account Freeze / Judicial Asset Seizure
- code
- TC-34
- needs review
- false
- role
- primary
- Narrative-to-Institutional Operationalization
- label
- Narrative-to-Institutional Operationalization
- code
- TC-17
- needs review
- false
- role
- secondary
- Bank Account Freeze / Judicial Asset Seizure
- narratives
- Financial Corruption / AML Framing
- label
- Financial Corruption / AML Framing
- code
- NF-03
- needs review
- false
- role
- primary
- Destabilization Agent
- label
- Destabilization Agent
- code
- NF-06
- needs review
- false
- role
- secondary
- Financial Corruption / AML Framing
- campaign ids
- campaign phase
- Phase 5: Systemic Assault
- channels
- Official/Regulatory
- civic response
- Nanuka Foundation director: "forced to stop all assistance including support for young children"; CSOMeter documents as "massive attack on people's rights"; international condemnation
- consequence category
- Legal/Administrative
- created at
- 2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00
- date precision
- day
- escalation
- 6
- harm track
- Track 1 — Legal/Administrative
- id
- GEO-009
- institutional consequence
- Five foundations frozen; protest support infrastructure eliminated; protesters unable to pay 5,000 GEL fines; families of imprisoned protesters without support; practical ability to protest financially constrained
- notes
- ANALYTICALLY IMPORTANT: this is the most direct case in the database of financial restrictions used to eliminate protest infrastructure. The mechanism is precise: (1) criminalize protest activities (fine escalation); (2) allow civil society to fund fine-payment (crowd-funding works); (3) freeze the civil society funding mechanism ("sabotage"); (4) protesters left to pay personally → protests cease. The GONGO trigger is also analytically significant — "United Neutral Georgia" appeals to Prosecutor, using civil society form to activate state prosecution. CSOMeter cites Slovakia parallel for "constitutional order" framing. Cross-ref GEO-005 (August 2025 broader account freezes).
- occurred on
- 2025-03-17
- signal ids
- trigger type
- TR-02: Civic Mobilization
- updated at
- 2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00
- version
- 1
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