Georgian Dream expands crackdown on ‘insults’ towards politicians to target social media users
Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party has announced it will sue social media users over ‘insults’ directed towards its representatives. This move expands a growing crackdown that has already seen several activists arrested or fined for allegedly insulting Georgian Dream officials.
The ruling party’s decision was announced Friday by Irakli Kirtskhalia, deputy chair of Georgian Dream’s parliamentary faction, following claims that his colleagues were being targeted by an ‘organised campaign of hatred and terror’ led by the ‘radical opposition and extremist groups under their control’.
‘There is no longer a line between verbal criticism and systemic hatred’, Kirtskhalia added, claiming that the goal of the so-called campaign was to ‘undermine state sovereignty and the stability of its core institutions’.
In addition to alleging that ruling party members were being ‘terrorised’, Kirtskhalia also asserted that this ‘terror’ was being encouraged by foreign-funded NGOs, international donors, and, ‘in some cases, directly by foreign governments’.
While he did not specify which countries or donors he believed were behind this ‘terror’, Georgian Dream has frequently alleged that ‘external forces’ are attempting to undermine Georgia’s sovereignty and stability — rhetoric that has intensified alongside the party’s increasingly confrontational stance toward US and European partners.
According to Kirtskhalia, the Georgian Dream faction is launching a ‘legal dispute’ and will file a complaint with the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding ‘the filthiest expressions and insults published in the public space, on social media, targeting political officeholders’.
The ruling party plans to use 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 a fine of up to ₾4,000 ($1,500) or administrative arrest for up to 45 days.
In the past two weeks, six activists have been penalised under this article. In Tbilisi, two were sentenced to 12 days of administrative detention and one was fined for allegedly insulting ruling party MP Mariam Lashkhi, while another was jailed for 10 days for allegedly insulting MP Tea Tsulukiani.
Earlier, in Zugdidi, two activists were fined after a verbal confrontation with Lashkhi and Tsulukiani’s colleague, MP Irakli Zarkua.
However, all of these activists were accused of insulting politicians during in-person altercations or protests — not for social media posts.
Earlier, on 1 May, Gori City Court fined a citizen over social media material — but for insulting a police officer, not a politician, under a different article of the administrative offences code.
At Friday’s briefing, Kirtskhalia did not specify how many individuals the ruling party was planning to sue or who they were, though he noted the complaint would be submitted to the ministry that same day.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
