Ben Keith in Brussels: Georgia's Rule of Law, Media and Justice

Ben Keith at the Brussels Press Club on Georgia’s Rule of Law Crisis

On Thursday 11 December 2025, IHR Advisors, together with the Brussels criminal lawyer Jean-Christophe De Block, hosted an in-person panel discussion at the Brussels Press Club on Georgia’s deepening rule of law crisis. Our co-founder Ben Keith was among the speakers.

The discussion was triggered by the convergence of three things. The arrest of the journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli. The recent decisions by courts in Belgium and France refusing to extradite individuals to Georgia. And the ruling Georgian Dream party’s continuing pivot towards Moscow, with the pressure that has placed on civil society, independent media and the courts.

Ben spoke alongside Eka Beselia, Doctor of Law, Head of the House of Justice and former Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs of Georgia; Constantinos Efstathiou, Cypriot MP and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Chryssa Mela, Senior Legal and Policy Officer at Fair Trials; and Jean-Christophe De Block, criminal lawyer at the Brussels Bar.

The view from the panel

Georgia has, for most of the past decade, been treated as one of the post-Soviet success stories in the Council of Europe space. A place where the institutions, however imperfect, were moving in a recognisably European direction. The panel’s starting point was that this trajectory is no longer safe to assume.

Eka Beselia drew on her experience of the Georgian legal and political system to set out how that drift has happened, where the institutions stand now, and what is being lost in the courts and in the parliamentary process.

Constantinos Efstathiou spoke from the perspective of the Council of Europe, and the tools available to PACE and to member states when a Council of Europe partner is sliding away from its commitments.

Chryssa Mela placed the Amaghlobeli case in the wider context of Fair Trials’ work on criminal justice, pre-trial detention and the misuse of criminal process against journalists.

Jean-Christophe De Block addressed the Belgian extradition refusals from the inside, and the practical question of when, and on what grounds, a continental court can be persuaded to say no to a request from a Council of Europe partner.

Ben Keith on INTERPOL and extradition out of Tbilisi

Ben spoke from his casework. He has acted in INTERPOL and extradition matters originating in Georgia and across the wider post-Soviet space.

His point was that the consequences of the political shift in Tbilisi are already visible in the work. More Georgian extradition requests are being challenged on rule-of-law grounds, and at least some of those challenges, including those in Brussels and Paris, are succeeding. More Red Notice cases from Georgia are raising concerns about abuses of the Red Notice system by the Georgian authorities. More clients, including journalists, opposition figures and business people with Georgian exposure, are asking what protection is realistically available outside the country.

For lawyers and policymakers in Brussels, the practical question on his account is no longer whether the rule of law in Georgia is under strain. It is what to do about it. That means treating Georgian requests with the care that the current evidence requires, reading the recent extradition refusals as a marker rather than a one-off, and looking at the full range of tools, including sanctions, where the underlying conduct warrants them.

With thanks

Our thanks to Jean-Christophe De Block for co-hosting, to the Brussels Press Club for the venue, and to Eka Beselia, Constantinos Efstathiou and Chryssa Mela for their contributions.

If you are working on, or affected by, an extradition request, INTERPOL notice or asylum question arising out of the current situation in Georgia, contact our team