Tbilisi City Court found Theona Baghdavadze administratively liable and imposed a GEL 1,500 fine. The case concerns alleged verbal insult directed at Natia Beridze on social media.
According to the available information, the case concerns a video published by Theona Baghdavadze on Facebook, in which POSTV representative Natia Beridze asks her questions and, during the conversation, mentions Baghdavadze’s late sister. Baghdavadze attached a comment to the video in which she described Beridze’s conduct as “disgusting” and said that she was manipulating the name of the person most important to her.
The case was initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Division for Combating Hate Speech. The division forwarded the materials to the court, after which the court found the conduct to constitute an administrative offence.
Judge Davit Makaradze imposed a GEL 4,000 fine on activist Ana Bdeiani. The MIA accused her of insulting a state-political official under Article 173¹⁶ of the Code of Administrative Offences.
The case concerns a Facebook comment Bdeiani wrote under a video by Tornike Razmadze. In the video, Razmadze discussed statements made by Irakli Kobakhidze and Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan regarding the Treaty of Georgievsk.
Administrative proceedings have also been initiated against Tornike Razmadze over a comment written under the same video. Razmadze’s offence report refers only to Article 166, which concerns swearing in a public space, while insulting a state-political official is regulated by Article 173¹⁶. According to the lawyer, the offence report has not yet been amended.
Ana Bdeiani’s case is linked to administrative proceedings initiated over comments published on social media, which form part of the practice of the newly established “Division for Combating Hate Speech” within the MIA.
Judge Nino Enukidze fined activist Mikheil Zakareishvili GEL 4,000 over posts published on Facebook. The Ministry of Internal Affairs accused him of verbally insulting Bidzina Ivanishvili, Bera Ivanishvili, Shalva Papuashvili, and Judge Nana Shamatava.
According to the case materials, the MIA was informed about the alleged administrative offence by Merab Ghoghoberidze via email. The information he provided concerned allegedly insulting statements made about Bera Ivanishvili and Shalva Papuashvili. As for the posts concerning Bidzina Ivanishvili and Judge Nana Shamatava, according to the MIA inspector’s report, they were identified after reviewing Mikheil Zakareishvili’s Facebook page. According to the case materials, Zakareishvili published the disputed posts on 2 June, 17 June, and 3 July 2026.
The MIA accused Zakareishvili of offences under Article 166(1) of the Code of Administrative Offences, petty hooliganism, and Article 173¹⁶(1), which concerns insulting state-political and public officials.
Administrative proceedings against citizens over statements made in public spaces, including on social media, are being initiated on the basis of reports drawn up by the newly established “Division for Combating Hate Speech” within the MIA. The division has been operating since 1 June, and its task is to monitor and proactively identify statements that degrade human dignity, are insulting, or contain hate speech.
On 28 July, late at night, the court concluded the hearings in the cases of 10 persons detained near the Tbilisi City Assembly on 26 July. The cases were heard by Judges Zviad Tsekvava and Tornike Kapanadze.
By court decision, four persons were subjected to administrative detention. Ia Melitauri and Nato Bolkvadze were subjected to 5 days of administrative detention, while Shako Baghdoshvili and Lasha Dgebuadze were subjected to 10 days of administrative detention.
The remaining detainees were fined by the court: Tornike Toshkhua – GEL 3,000, Vaso Beridze – GEL 5,000, Mariam Mekantsishvili – GEL 6,000, Marine Nanava – GEL 5,000, and Sandro Sekhniashvili – GEL 5,000. Consideration of Tornike Tikaridze’s case was postponed until 31 July, and he was released from detention.
In Ia Melitauri’s case, the judge did not establish a violation of Article 173 and found her administratively liable only for petty hooliganism. According to persons present at the hearing, Melitauri spoke about ill-treatment in police custody and showed the judge injuries sustained during her detention.
In parallel with the hearings, reports circulated about confrontations between citizens and officers of the Court Bailiff Service. Circulated footage showed bailiffs forcing citizens to leave the court building.
The case concerns the events that took place near the Tbilisi City Assembly on 26 July. Police initially detained Tornike Toshkhua, who was standing near the City Assembly with a banner reading: “Is Bidzina a d***? Yes – No.” Following his detention, citizens displayed banners with the same wording in solidarity, after which police detained nine additional persons. The Ministry of Internal Affairs alleged that the detainees had used obscene language in a public space and disobeyed a lawful order of police.
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.
Civil activist Giorgi Melitauri was fined GEL 2,000 on the grounds of allegedly posting an insulting comment on Facebook in connection with his friend.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs accused Giorgi Melitauri, under Article 166 of the Code of Administrative Offences, of verbal abuse in a public space, classified as petty hooliganism. The case concerns a comment Melitauri posted under one of Mtavari TV’s Facebook posts. The post concerned an attack on Melitauri’s friend, photographer Levan Zazadze. Melitauri’s comment was directed at the person who had attacked Zazadze and included profanity. The MIA’s Division for Combating Hate Speech treated the comment as an insult against his friend and drew up an administrative offence report.
At the court hearing, the MIA representative stated that it did not matter at whom the insult was directed. “They accused me of insulting [Levan Zazadze], but when they realized that the profanity was directed not at Levan Zazadze, but at his attacker, they said that it did not matter whether I insulted anyone or not; what mattered was that I had used obscene language in a public space,” Melitauri told Publika.
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.
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.
On 6 July 2026, writer and protest participant Beka Kurkhuli was fined GEL 3,000 on the grounds of allegedly publishing insulting posts on social media. The decision was delivered by Judge Nino Enukidze of Tbilisi City Court.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs accused Beka Kurkhuli of verbal abuse in a public space, classified as petty hooliganism. According to the Ministry, Kurkhuli published several posts, comments, and videos on Facebook in which he “uses obscene words and phrases,” some of which were directed at Bidzina Ivanishvili, honorary chair of Georgian Dream, and Gia Gachechiladze, a presenter on Maestro.
Beka Kurkhuli told TV Pirveli that the case also concerned an opinion he had expressed on television. According to him, several weeks earlier, while speaking on TV Pirveli, he discussed the problems he faced at the border upon returning from Ukraine and criticized Bidzina Ivanishvili, which was treated as an insult.
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.
On 7 July 2026, the personal bank account of civil activist Nino Kalandia, the mother of a child with a disability, was seized for the second time in connection with her participation in protest rallies. According to Kalandia, five additional fines issued against her have been submitted to the National Bureau of Enforcement.
Kalandia’s bank accounts were first seized on 29 May over her participation in protest rallies. At that time, the seizure was imposed both on her personal bank account and on the pension account of her 13-year-old child with a disability, which had been opened in her name.
On 10 July 2026, Tbilisi City Court fined musician Maia Darsmelidze GEL 2,800 over a Facebook post concerning Nino Jgharkava, a person affiliated with Georgian Dream. The decision was delivered by Judge Manuchar Tsatsua of Tbilisi City Court.
Administrative offence proceedings against the musician were initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ newly created Division for Combating Hate Speech. Darsmelidze was one of the first publicly reported cases in which the new division drew up an administrative offence report. The musician herself wrote about this on social media.
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.
