To the Government of Georgia and Mr Irakli Kobakhidze, the Foreign Office, Federal Minister Johann Wadephul
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- Created: Sunday, 14 December 2025 23:14
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Protest statement regarding the refusal to grant Tobias Thylmann entry to Georgia. Dear Mr Kobakhidze and Mr Wadephul. I am writing to you today on behalf of the International Miners' Coordination Group (ICG): On 13 December 2025, Tobias Thylmann was denied entry to Georgia without any explanation. He is a member of a German delegation that wants to attend the court proceedings in Kutaisi.
At the end of April 2025, four miners were arrested by the regional police at three o'clock in the morning in the striking miners' tent, and their trial has been repeatedly postponed. They have been in custody ever since.
We strongly protest against the Georgian authorities' refusal to allow Tobias Thylmann to enter the country.
The miners in the manganese mine have been locked out since November 2024. They were promised that work would resume on 1 March 2025. This and other promises have been broken several times. Since then, the miners and their families have been courageously striking, supported by the population in the region, to preserve their jobs and livelihoods in the Chiatura region and for the future of their children. Since then, the company and the press loyal to it have been conducting a smear campaign against the striking miners.
We also protest against this criminalisation and arrest of the struggling miners and their supporters.
We, the International Miners' Coordination, call on the police and government in Georgia to immediately release the arrested miners and to immediately cease the repression against the struggling miners and their supporters. We also demand the recognition of their civil democratic and trade union rights. We demand the immediate withdrawal of the entry ban on Tobias Thylmann.
Yours sincerely
The International Coordination Group of the International Miners' Coordination
Andreas Tadysiak
Main Coordinator of the International Miners' Coordination
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