Journalist Razmadze fined for comment about Simonyan
The judge of the capital court in Georgia, Nino Enukidze, decided to fine activist and journalist Tornike Razmadze for petty hooliganism and obscene remarks on social media. The journalist himself claims that he was convicted for a comment made in response to a statement by Margarita Simonyan.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in mid-September, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia initiated an administrative case against journalist Tornike Razmadze for obscene remarks on social media. The law enforcement agency stated that they were defending the honor of Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, but the activist insists that the reason was a comment directed at Kremlin propagandists Margarita Simonyan and Vladimir Solovyov.
According to Razmadze, the basis for the accusations was a Facebook post from August 18. The journalist published a video comparing Irakli Kobakhidze's rhetoric regarding the Treaty of Georgievsk with statements from Russian propagandists. The video included a fragment from Solovyov's author program, where Simonyan predicts that the Georgian leadership "will again beg Mother Russia to take them home on their knees," just as "Irakli II begged on his knees". Razmadze noted that he was charged under Article 166, which provides punishment for insults directed at another person, but not at officials. The "Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia" called on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to terminate the administrative proceedings, stating that under the pretext of maintaining order, the state has targeted criticism of anti-Georgian propaganda from the Kremlin.
The judge of the Tbilisi City Court, Nino Enukidze, today decided to fine journalist Tornike Razmadze 3,000 lari (about 1,100 dollars) for comments on Facebook. The court found the journalist guilty of petty hooliganism, reports the Pirveli television company.
"I was fined 3,000 lari for insults directed at Simonyan. Nothing strange, nothing unexpected," the activist wrote on his Facebook page.
According to the Department for Combating Hate Speech of the Human Rights Protection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, civil activist Tornike Razmadze was accused of insulting Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. Razmadze himself claimed that the case against him was initiated due to statements directed at Russian propagandists Margarita Simonyan and Vladimir Solovyov.
By early August, in two months of work, the new unit for combating "hate speech" had sent about 300 administrative cases related to critical comments about the current authorities of Georgia to court. The grounds for initiating cases included sharp statuses on social media, public comments, and obscene inscriptions on posters used by protesters.
At the court hearing held on October 15, Mariam Kereselidze, head of the court relations department of the legal department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, explained that although Razmadze's comment was not directly addressed to the government of Georgia, the protocol compiler, along with the comment itself, assessed the context and content of Tornike Razmadze's publication as a whole, and concluded that his comment was directed at the government of Georgia, reports Interpressnews.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in June, lawyer Shota Tutberidze was fined 4,000 lari for a comment on social media, with the complaint filed by the department for combating "hate speech".