How Putin Inspired a Menacing New Witch Hunt in Another Country
Activists and journalists who protested a controversial new “foreign agent” law in Georgia have been targeted in a relentless intimidation campaign in recent days, replete with threatening calls, harassment, intimidation, suspected stalking, and even physical attacks.
Some say they have been stalked at their homes, while others say they and their families have received intimidating phone calls from anonymous callers. Several activists say they have been physically assaulted.
Levan Tsutskiridze, the executive director for the Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy—who has been protesting the so-called Russian law for weeks—said that saboteurs covered the outside of his office with threatening graffiti and posters calling him a “foreign agent.” The next day, the saboteurs covered the entrance to his apartment with graffiti and threatening posters as well.