Punishments for protesters have been tightened in Georgia

Immediately after his inauguration, new President of Georgia Mikhail Kavelashvili has signed all the amendments to the Georgian laws that tighten the punishment for violations during protest actions and also simplify the process of dismissing and hiring persons for public service.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on December 29, Mikhail Kavelashvili took office as President of Georgia amid the protest actions in Tbilisi. Salome Zurabishvili has claimed that after the inauguration she will leave the presidential palace and join the protesters against the suspension of the country’s membership in the EU.

On December 30, Georgian President Mikhail Kavelashvili signed all the laws that were quickly adopted by the “Georgian Dream” Party in November.

The above-mentioned amendments include a ban on the use of pyrotechnics and lasers during public gatherings and a ban on covering faces at rallies. The law on civil service has been amended, according to which the reorganization procedure in public institutions simplified. One of its innovations is that even if a claim of an employee who appealed against his or her dismissal is granted by court, the state is not obliged to return the employee to his or her previous job. Furthermore, the sanctions in the Georgian Code of Administrative Offenses have been strengthened, and new grounds for arrest have been added to it.

Nona Kurdovanidze, the chair of the “Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association” (GYLA) NGO, notes that Mikhail Kavelashvili signed all the repressive and undemocratic amendments to the Georgian laws. Nona Kurdovanidze has also specified what changes were made to the other laws. In particular, it is now easier to dismiss a public sector employee for political reasons.

The amendments concerning participation in protests have been made to the Georgian Code of Administrative Offenses. So, the drivers who join rallies if the police consider that they are interfering with traffic will be fined 1000 laris (about 370 US dollars) and deprived of the right to drive a vehicle for a year.

“The Georgian law now also allows a preventive arrest. If a person had earlier committed a crime, the police may assume that he or she will commit another crime and arrest him or her based on the above assumption,” Nona Kurdovanidze wrote.

Giorgi Volski, the former First Vice-Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, believes that Mikhail Kavelashvili has hardly read everything he signed. “When you stay at the Atoneli residence (presidential palace), you don’t have to see into details of anything,” Giorgi Volski noted.