On 6 July 2026, Georgian citizen Besik Andghuladze, who is currently abroad, was fined GEL 4,000 on the grounds of allegedly insulting Eka Chichinadze, a Georgian Dream MP and member of Parliament. The decision was delivered by Judge Nino Enukidze of Tbilisi City Court. The Ministry of Internal Affairs accused Andghuladze of committing an act under Article 173¹⁶(1) of the Code of Administrative Offences, which concerns the verbal insult and verbal abuse of a state-political official.

Andghuladze’s lawyer explained to the court that there was no evidence reliably establishing that the author of the comment was indeed Besik Andghuladze. Nevertheless, the judge did not accept this argument and found him administratively liable.

Administrative proceedings against citizens over opinions expressed in the public space are being initiated on the basis of administrative offence 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.