Constitutional Court of Georgia finds some provisions of the law on assemblies contradictory to legislation

Several provisions of the law "On Assemblies and Manifestations" were found unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Georgia. The lawsuit was initiated by four parties, the NGO "Youth organization of Georgian lawyers", local Ombudsman and several citizens of Georgia.

The case was considered by the Plenum of the Constitutional Court. The lawsuit concerned the law "On Assemblies and Manifestations", the Code on Administrative Offences and the Investigatory Service of the Ministry of Finance, where they found contradictions to Articles 19, 24 and 25 of the Constitution, which guarantee the freedom of speech, the freedom of assemblies and manifestations.

In particular, the court found unconstitutional the ban on assemblies and manifestations at the distance closer than 20 meters away from some governmental institutions, including the courts. At the same time, the Constitutional Court has ruled that an action might still be banned, if it does not allow the governmental body to function properly.

The Court has also found unconstitutional the norm of the law, under which a citizen had no right to be initiator of a rally or manifestation, and a non-citizen of Georgia had no right to be an organizer of a rally or manifestation. 

Besides, the Court ruled that the norm was unconstitutional, saying that in case of blocking a street by demonstrators or in case of some other offence, the action should be immediately stopped (otherwise, the police was sanctioned to disperse it). Under the court order, the assembly can be dispersed only after the participants refuse to fulfil a legitimate demand of a governmental official. Furthermore, if the number of participants in a manifestation is so large that they occupy a part of the carriageway, it will not be considered to be a violation.

The Court has also overturned the norm about the violation of the law in the case of a call to overthrow the ruling power, when there is no real danger of its realization in life. Law enforcement agencies should first assess how great the danger is that the appeal may transform into force actions and violence.

Tamar Chugoshvili, chair of the "Association of Young Lawyers", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that this is not the first time that lawsuits lodged by parties, NGOs and citizens are satisfied by the Constitutional Court. And yet, according to her story, such precedents are not yet plenty.