In 2023, parliament began working on a new Defense Code, which stipulated that online or distance learning would no longer exempt young men from mandatory military service. Nor would refusal to serve be permitted on the grounds of faith, religion, or belief. Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated that the reform aimed to close a loophole previously used by the Girchi party.

In 2017, Girchi had founded a religious organization called the Christian Evangelical Protestant Church of Georgia – Biblical Freedom, which granted “clerical status” to conscripts, allowing them to avoid mandatory service.

With the new law removing this exemption, Girchi announced that its members would no longer be able to help young people avoid conscription. On March 11, 2023, the party organized a protest in front of parliament under the slogan “No to Slavery.”

Several hundred people attended the rally, demanding that military service be voluntary rather than compulsory. The protest did not lead to any changes in the law.