According to civil activist Tornike Razmadze, no one can say that the administrative proceedings against him were started because of insulting Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, because the protocol states that the case was initiated under Article 166, which concerns swearing in public places. If they had considered that he insulted Irakli Kobakhidze or any high-ranking official, the case should have been initiated under Article 173.

On PalitraNews’ programme “Resume,” Tornike Razmadze states that he is demanding that the court hearings be open and that he has already submitted a statement to the Ministry of Justice.

“Propagandistically they wrote on the ‘cards’ of TV Imedi and Rustavi 2 that two violations were identified - by Tornike Razmadze and by this and that person who insulted Irakli Kobakhidze. Not ‘who insulted’ but ‘who.’ In my case they cannot say that because I am holding the protocol in my hand. The case against me was initiated under Article 166, which concerns swearing in public places. If they had considered that I insulted Irakli Kobakhidze or any high-ranking official, that would be Article 173, and that law provides for directly writing the name and surname of the person whom, in their opinion, I insulted in the protocol. They wrote it so manipulatively in order to give the propagandists something to say; in the end they will probably say: ‘Oh, we couldn’t figure it out.’

In that video I draw a parallel that it coincides with the rhetoric of ‘Georgian Dream.’ There is no swearing in the video; the swearing is written in the comment, and I use Margarita Simonyan’s quote that Erekle II came standing on his knees, and because of that I am using an insult. It is absolutely clear to everyone that this concerned Margarita Simonyan. At first I thought they believed it was about Irakli Kobakhidze - how could they do such a stupid thing - but after I consulted with lawyers it is simply ruled out; such a thing does not work. Insulting an official is a different article and the name and surname would have been written. This is their propagandistic food, to which they did not respond for quite a long time. In the end they chose silence. Ultimately I am waiting to see what they decide,” Tornike Razmadze stated.

For information: Civil activist Tornike Razmadze released information that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia is accusing him of insulting “Russian propagandists.” Specifically, according to Tornike Razmadze, the Division for Combating Hate created within the MIA initiated administrative proceedings against him over the fact of verbal insult of Margarita Simonyan and Vladimir Solovyov. Later, the Division for Combating Hate Speech of the Department for the Protection of Human Rights of the MIA clarified that civil activist Tornike Razmadze is being accused of insulting Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.