Ia Melitauri, an activist participating in the ongoing protest, was fined 2,500 GEL by the court. The decision was delivered by Judge Tornike Kapanadze of Tbilisi City Court. The administrative offence case against Melitauri concerns a social media post that contained obscene language and mentioned the surname “Salukvadze”. According to the position of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the post was directed at police officer Lasha Salukvadze.
The case was examined under Article 173(2) of the Code of Administrative Offences, which concerns verbal insult of a police officer and provides for a fine ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 GEL or administrative detention of up to 60 days.
According to the defence, the case did not establish that the disputed post was published by Ia Melitauri. In addition, the defence lawyer argued that the post referred only to the surname “Salukvadze”, without a first name, status, or other identifying details, and therefore it was not proven that the text was specifically directed at police officer Lasha Salukvadze.