Honorable Members of the United States Congress,

We, the Georgian immigrants, Georgian-Americans, and supporters of democracy residing across the United States, also Georgian immigrants from around the world, respectfully urge Congress to respond to the severe democratic deterioration occurring in Georgia under the ruling Georgian Dream party.

The recent decision to abolish voting rights for Georgian citizens abroad represents an unprecedented attack on universal suffrage and a calculated effort to silence the pro-Western diaspora. Combined with political imprisonment, judicial weaponization, criminal state capture, and deepening cooperation with authoritarian regimes, Georgia is facing a coordinated dismantling of its democratic foundations.

 
1. Disenfranchisement of Emigrants Is a Human Rights Violation

Requiring Georgian citizens abroad to return physically to Georgia to vote is a deliberate and unconstitutional attempt to strip political rights from a demographic that overwhelmingly supports the country’s Euro-Atlantic future.

It violates:

• Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  The ICCPR
• OSCE and EU standards on free political participation
  It is not a procedural reform. It is the revocation of political rights from hundreds of thousands of citizens.

2. We Are Being Stripped of Citizenship in Practice

By denying emigrants the right to vote, Georgian Dream is turning citizens into political exiles. Citizenship is not merely a document; it is the right to participate in the nation’s future. This government now denies that right to some of its most economically and socially important citizens.

 
3. Georgia Has Political Prisoners

The Georgian Dream government continues to:

• Arrest political opponents
• Persecute journalists and activists
• Weaponize courts and prosecutors
• Ignore international calls for the release of political prisoners

This pattern reflects the behavior of authoritarian governments, not a U.S. ally committed to democracy.

 
4. Georgian Dream Is Dragging Georgia Toward Russia, China, and Iran

Georgia’s ruling elites increasingly align with authoritarian regimes:

Russia: policy coordination, narratives aligned with Kremlin interests
China: expanding influence in ports, infrastructure, and surveillance systems
Iran: cooperation contrary to Western sanctions and regional stability
These vectors are in direct contradiction to the will of the Georgian people.

 
5. Georgian Dream Is Exploiting Georgia’s Strategic Geography for Criminal Networks

Georgia’s geographic position—at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, historically part of the Silk Road corridor—has become a tool for organized crime and geopolitical corruption under Georgian Dream’s governance.

We wish to highlight alarming patterns:

A. Narcotics Trafficking Corridor

Georgia’s strategic transit position is increasingly used for:

• Narcotics smuggling
• Synthetic drug distribution
• Regional cartel cooperation

Weak or complicit enforcement enables the growth of these networks.

B. Illegal Weapons Transit

Georgia’s transport routes have become vulnerable to:

• Small-arms trafficking
• Dual-use equipment smuggling
• Covert weapons flows in the Black Sea region

This destabilizes both the Caucasus and U.S. partner states.

C. Financial and Corporate Laundering for Russia and China

Under Georgian Dream, Georgia is being used as a:

• A laundering hub for Russian oligarchic networks evading sanctions
• Offshore corridor for Chinese financial influence

Gateway for opaque corporate structures, land purchases, shell companies, and illicit cash flows

Instead of acting as a bulwark against malign actors, the current government is facilitating them.

This represents not only a threat to Georgian sovereignty but a direct challenge to Western security interests.

 
6. Georgian Dream Is an Illegitimate, Anti-Democratic Regime

By:

• Disenfranchising emigrants
• Maintaining political prisoners
• Suppressing the opposition
• Enabling criminal networks
• Aligning with hostile authoritarian states
• Undermining the judiciary
• Attacking civil society and the media

Georgian Dream has forfeited all democratic legitimacy.

It now functions as a state-captured structure serving foreign and criminal interests—not the Georgian people.

 
7. WE URGE THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO TAKE ACTION

A. Publicly condemn the disenfranchisement of Georgian emigrants

B. Demand the release of all political prisoners

C. Pass and strengthen the M.E.G.O.B.A.R.I. (Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence). Act

Make democratic regression a trigger for diplomatic and economic consequences.

D. Recognize Georgian Dream’s governance as anti-democratic and destabilizing

E. Impose targeted U.S. sanctions on Georgian Dream leaders, oligarchs, and enablers

We request:

• Global Magnitsky sanctions
• Visa bans
• Asset freezes
• Restrictions on U.S. financial access
• Sanctions on individuals enabling transnational crime and laundering networks

Sanctions must target:

• Senior party leadership and their family members
• Oligarchic financiers and their family members
• Judges, prosecutors, and security officials, and their family members involved in repression
• Individuals and their family members facilitating narcotrafficking, illicit arms flows, and financial laundering

These actions are essential to protect:

• Georgian democracy
• Regional stability
• U.S. strategic interests
   
  8. The Georgian People Need the Support of the United States

We, the Georgian diaspora in the United States, remain dedicated to democratic values and to a free, Western-oriented Georgia.

We urge Congress to stand with the Georgian nation—not the corrupt, authoritarian system that currently rules it.

The Georgian people are being silenced!
Their votes are being stolen!
Their country is being captured!

America must not look away!