Activist Sentenced to Four Day Administrative Detention
The Tbilisi City Court has ruled four-day administrative detention for Shota Dighmelashvili, leader of Shame Movement activist group, over pelting eggs at the Georgian Government Chancellery, in what watchdogs see as deteriorating environment for freedom of expression and assembly in Georgia..
During the action on March 8, Dighmelashvili recorded a video expressing protest over the detention of fellow activists a day before over protest against the government’s controversial response to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The recording shows police approaching Dighmelashvili soon after throwing an egg and saying he could not do it.
Nona Kurdovanidze, laywer at the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, said in a facebook post today that police portrayed Dighmelashvili’s actions as “disobedience to the lawful request of the police” even as the court did not seek to verify existence of such request.
Dishmelashvili’s sentence comes as watchdogs took a note of “selective, disproportionate and unsubstantiated” arrests by police amid solidarity demonstrations for Ukraine.
Transparency International Georgia, local civil society group said yesterday “the law enforcement bodies and courts permanently violated the activists’ rights” during these and previous arrests. It said the courts and police were engaged in selective application of the legislation and arbitrary arrests of activists.
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