Public Defender: Expression of opinion, including for the purpose of achieving political goals, cannot be aimed at harming or degrading a specific person

Expression of opinion, including for the purpose of achieving political goals, cannot be aimed at harming or degrading a specific person - this is the standard as interpreted by the Strasbourg Court in Article 10 of the Convention and a number of decisions have been made on this issue, - Public Defender Levan Ioseliani states.

“The Strasbourg Court of Human Rights protects very strict and critical opinions, including those that may be unacceptable and shocking to most of society, but it does not protect, among other things, hate speech, bullying, incitement to violence or profanity against public figures.

Expression of opinion, including for the purpose of achieving political goals, cannot be aimed at harming or degrading a specific person. This is the standard as the Strasbourg Court interprets Article 10 of the Convention and a number of decisions have been made on this. The rest depends on the details of the case and the evidence presented to the court, on what basis these people are summoned or what type of statements they are challenging,” says Levan Ioseliani.

Journalists, politicians and civil activists were summoned to the Tbilisi City Court due to statements posted on social networks regarding representatives of Georgian Dream. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has drawn up administrative violation protocols and is demanding that they be fined for the published posts.