By order eof the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, changes have been made to the parliament’s accreditation system. According to the amendments, individual journalists who repeatedly violate parliamentary accreditation rules will have their accreditation suspended for up to one year. Additionally, depending on the severity and frequency of the violations, an entire media outlet could have its accreditation revoked for up to a year.

Shalva Papuashvili justified these changes by citing a desire to adopt the practices of the European Parliament. The Speaker initially announced the potential tightening of media rules on May 14. His statement followed the European Parliament’s decision to suspend the accreditation of the pro-government broadcaster “Imedi,” a channel sanctioned by the UK for spreading Russian disinformation.

“Currently, violating accreditation rules in the Georgian Parliament results in a one-month suspension for the first offense, and a six-month suspension for a repeat offense. We have seen that a one-year suspension also exists in the European Parliament. Therefore, we will bring the Georgian Parliament’s accreditation system closer to that of the European Parliament,” stated Papuashvili.

Until now, sanctions for violating accreditation rules in the Georgian Parliament were only applied against individual journalists. Papuashvili noted that the European Parliament also imposes sanctions on entire media outlets; therefore, they will “adopt this experience as well,” making it possible to revoke a media organization’s accreditation for a full year.

The Media Advocacy Coalition views these amendments as a deliberate hindrance to journalistic work. “Under the guise of implementing European Parliament regulations, the Parliament continues to complicate the operations of independent media within the legislative body. Media accreditation mechanisms in the Parliament have already been used against independent media on numerous occasions. This creates a reasonable suspicion that the new regulations will further amplify the risk of selective and punitive approaches against the press,” the organization noted in its statement.

The tightening of rules for the media in the legislative body began in February 2023. Several security measures were introduced in Parliament, under which journalists who are not accredited by Parliament are prohibited from entering the building. It became possible to suspend a journalist’s accreditation simply based on an MP’s request. Furthermore, starting January 1, 2026, a new rule for issuing one-time special accreditations came into effect, creating even more barriers for the press. All of these measures have been repeatedly deployed against journalists.