Citizen Giorgi Gogia was fined GEL 3,000 on the grounds of allegedly insulting Bera Ivanishvili, the son of the honorary chair of Georgian Dream. The decision was delivered by Judge Tornike Kochkiani of Tbilisi City Court.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs accused Giorgi Gogia, under Article 166 of the Code of Administrative Offences, of verbal abuse in a public space, classified as petty hooliganism. According to the Ministry, Gogia insulted Bera Ivanishvili, the son of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and honorary chair of Georgian Dream, on the social network Facebook. The MIA qualified as a possible administrative offence a post written on 14 June, in which Giorgi Gogia shared a statement by Bera Ivanishvili and wrote: “said the son of a b***h who had Irakli Gharibashvili running around schools to beat up children.”
Administrative proceedings against citizens over opinions expressed in the public space are being initiated on the basis of reports drawn up by the newly created MIA Division for Combating Hate Speech. The new division has been operating within the MIA since 1 June. Its mandate is to monitor and proactively identify publicly disseminated statements that are degrading to human dignity, insulting, or contain hate speech, where such statements may contain elements of an administrative offence.
According to Radio Liberty, between 1 June and 2 July, after the division became operational, it identified 170 alleged administrative offences, of which 150 cases have already been submitted to court. Decisions have already been delivered in 33 of these 150 cases: 31 individuals were fined, while two individuals received verbal warnings. Most of those fined are citizens and activists.
