Georgia’s parliament on Friday voted to drop a controversial bill that opponents — and thousands of protesters who swarmed the capital earlier this week — warned could stifle dissent and curtail media freedoms, ushering in Russian-style repression.
The law would have required media and nongovernmental organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from foreign sources to register as “agents of foreign influence.” Its opponents argued the bill was inspired by a similar law in Russia that is used to silence critics, and could hinder Georgia’s aspirations of one day joining NATO and the European Union.
