U.S. Slaps Top Georgian Dream Officials With Sanctions Over Protest Crackdown, Pledges More

The United States on Thursday announced fresh sanctions against senior officials in the Georgian Dream government, in repudiation of their brutal crackdown on pro-Western protesters, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"We're sanctioning two Georgian officials, including the Internal Affairs Minister, related to violence against protesters. The UK and other European countries have taken recent action. We are aligned in promoting accountability for those who undermine human rights in Georgia." State Department's spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Among the high-level officials targeted by the U.S. are Georgian Dream's interior minister, and Deputy Head of the Ministry’s Special Task’s Department Mirza Kezevadze.

"The Department of State is also taking further steps to impose visa restrictions on additional Georgian individuals and their family members, including law enforcement and security officials who were involved in the violence against protesters, and municipal government officials who abused their power to restrict fundamental freedoms, including the right to vote without coercion or intimidation," Miller said in a statement.

It wasn't immediately clear how many Georgian officials in total had been targeted in total by Thursday's visa restrictions.

"This is just the latest example of the United States using the tools at its disposal to hold perpetrators in Georgia accountable, and we of course continue to have these various tools at our disposal," State Department's Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told a daily briefing when responding to TURAN's questions.

He went on to add that the latest sanctions follow the visa actions that the U.S. announced last week. "Ultimately this is something the United States strongly condemns Georgian Dreams’ ongoing brutal violence against Georgian citizens, Georgian protestors, and members of the media, human rights activists and opposition figures. Our view is that the Georgian Dream party has turned away from Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future, which the Georgian people overwhelmingly desire and the Georgian constitution envisions."

Patel concluded:  "We are committed to promoting accountability for those complicit in human rights abuses and undermining democracy in Georgia."