Transparency International Georgia has filed three new applications with the European Court of Human Rights. All three cases concern violations of the rights of participants in civil protests, namely the freedom of assembly (Article 11 ECHR), the right to respect for private life (Article 8 ECHR), and the right to a fair trial (Article 6 ECHR).

In these cases, the victims of the violations are the diplomat and a former State Minister for Euro-Atlantic integration, Alexi Petriashvili; the journalist Natia Goksadze; and the artist, Levan Margiani. All three were found administratively liable by the Murusidze–Chinchaladze clan court. As a penalty, the first two were fined GEL 5,000 each, while Levan Margiani was sentenced to six days of administrative detention.

As is well known, over the past year the so-called Parliament of “Georgian Dream” adopted five different legislative packages amending the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations and the Code of Administrative Offences, thereby effectively dismantling one of the fundamental human rights — freedom of assembly, which is guaranteed by international human rights law and the Constitution of Georgia.

We firmly believe that justice will ultimately prevail, and that the Strasbourg Court will hold the Ivanishvili government accountable for the violations of the rights of all three of our fellow citizens.