Georgia: First legal victory over anti-communist law

The Gori District Court considered the fines issued to Temur Pipia and Aslan Gvarishvili illegal. The first was fined for organizing a rally, the second for bringing a copy of the Victory Banner into public space.

As PolitNavigator reported, on May 9 of this year, an action dedicated to Victory Day was held in the Georgian city of Gori, Stalin’s hometown. Participants in the event held in their hands 50 red banners without communist symbols and two copies of the Victory Banner. It was the hammer and sickle depicted on these two banners that became the reason for the confrontation between the police and the protesters.

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In Georgia, since 2011, communist ideology and symbols have been prohibited by a law called the Freedom Charter. Based on this law, the police detained three protesters and fined two of them.

_{The actions of the police were challenged in court on time, and as a result, a rather unexpected decision was received by the court of first instance in favor of the violators of the Freedom Charter.}

The judge considered the fine to be unlawful due to police violations of procedural actions established by law. Despite the fact that those who violated the Charter were not acquitted on the merits of the case, that is, not on the basis of the inconsistency of the law itself with the Constitution of Georgia and international law, the decision, and even against the police, carries a certain moral and political burden.

_{This is the first such case for Georgia when those punished on the basis of the Charter are acquitted in court. In addition, the debate at the trial showed all the stupidity and clumsiness of the law, the implementation of which is so difficult for the law enforcement agencies themselves.}

The detentions and fines of people celebrating May 9 in front of the Stalin Museum, and even in the leader’s hometown, caused protest and bewilderment among the majority of the population of Georgia. This fact was covered by all central and regional TV of the republic. But, apparently, this time the order to punish violators of the “Charter” was sent down from above in order to warn them for openly supporting the Russian Military District.

_{The fact is that this was the first action in Georgia that openly supported the Russian Military District in Ukraine.}

Earlier, the Supreme Court of Georgia refused to return to the owner 300 medals dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory, seized by the Georgian customs service on the Russian-Georgian border. The confiscation was carried out on March 29, 2020, based on the Freedom Charter. The plaintiff intends to continue the fight in the European court.

At the moment, the compliance of the Freedom Charter with the Constitution of the country is being challenged in the Constitutional Court of Georgia by lawyer Lasha Shukakidze, a lawyer who successfully acted in the above-mentioned case of a fine for the red Soviet flag.

The first judicial victory over the anti-communist law in Georgia was commented on by State Duma deputy, first deputy chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Kazbek Taisaev for PolitNavigator.

“I congratulate the Georgian comrades on their first victory in the trial related to the anti-communist Freedom Charter law. The victory has important moral significance and provides a good basis for continuing the legal struggle to repeal this shameful law, adopted under Saakashvili.

I would also like to thank lawyer Lasha Shukakidze for her successful work and support. We know that Georgian communists continue to fight for the abolition of the Charter, we follow this fight and support them in this difficult matter,” Taisaev emphasized.