Tbilisi City Court sentenced activist Keta Daudishvili to two days of administrative detention on charges of insulting a court bailiff.
The decision was made by Judge Manuchar Tsatsua on Monday. Daudishvili’s lawyer, Giorgi Tabatadze, told Publika that the incident occurred during the court hearing of poet Zviad Ratiani.
According to the lawyer, the bailiffs urged activists to leave the courthouse and tried to remove them by force, which was followed by verbal insults directed at the head of the Bailiff Service, Davit Matiashvili.
The Interior Ministry had requested a fine for the activist, but the judge decided on a harsher punishment — imprisonment.
Daudishvili was charged under one of the many laws passed by Georgian Dream amidst the ongoing anti-government protests, which introduced insulting officeholders as an administrative offence. The article provides for both an fine of up to ₾4,000 ($1,500) or administrative detention for up to 45 days.
Under this law, over the past two months, multiple activists, politicians, and journalists have been penalised — both for in-person incidents and for social media materials. Some were fined, while others were placed in administrative detention.
Mariam Nikuradze
