Deputy Interior Minister: Freedom of expression protects individuals’ right to state their position, but it must not infringe upon dignity of others

Georgia’s Deputy Internal Affairs Minister, Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, stated that while expressing opinions is fully protected by freedom of speech, authorities will intervene if statements descend into obscenity, abuse, or profanity.

Darakhvelidze noted that violating another person’s dignity constitutes a breach of public order, which the Ministry of Internal Affairs is legally obligated to address.

“Where the expression of an opinion takes place without crossing into excessive abuse, profanity, or harassment, it is, naturally, protected by freedom of expression. As for the specific cases we have brought before the court, almost every statement that prompted a response involved profanity, abuse, and obscenities.

An individual is entirely free to criticise a specific policy or political direction, but profanity and offensive harassment are unequivocally obscene. Concerns have been raised that the department operates solely to the benefit of one specific side. However, you can see that individuals have also been fined for exhibiting offensive behaviour towards representatives of specific opposition parties while voicing their positions in public spaces.

The right to freedom of expression protects individual opinion, but provided it does not compromise the dignity of others. The moment you violate someone else’s dignity through abuse and profanity, it disrupts public order. Naturally, it is our duty to act upon this. Our officers can confirm that while such incidents were previously frequent, they have decreased significantly of late. This demonstrates the deterrent effect,” Aleksandre Darakhvelidze stated.