The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) provided an urgent opinion on the proposed amendments to the Georgian Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations and to the Administrative Offences Code at the request of the Georgian Public Defender’s Office.

According to the Public Defender, the opinion is “quite critical,” saying the parliament should not adopt the law with these proposed amendments.

Public Defender’s Office notes that Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the amendments to the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations and the discussion of the draft is not yet over in the Georgian parliament.

The Public Defender further states the OSCE/ODIHR consulted with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association. According to the Opinion, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly also encompasses the freedom to choose the modalities and manner of assembly.

“It is important to underline that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly protects a broad range of gathering and assemblies, including long-term demonstrations, extended sit-ins and “occupy”-style manifestations, which would generally involve temporary constructions,” reads the Opinion.

The Opinion reads that restrictions on temporary constructions may be regulated if necessary.

“By prohibiting the erection of temporary constructions, the Draft Amendments would restrict the modalities and manner of assembly that organizers and participants should be free to determine. Restrictions on the manner of an assembly may be regulated where necessary to safeguard the legitimate interests of the state, the public or the rights of other individuals, provided that the regulation is unrelated to the content of the assembly’s message, and only if it complies with the above-mentioned requirements of legality, legitimacy, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination,” it reads.

The Public Defender’s office also mentions that the imposition of the most severe administrative penalty (15-day administrative detention with fine and confiscation) for erecting temporary constructions is also assessed as disproportionate in the Opinion.

The agency said that based on the Opinion, the “proposed changes could be used to suppress politically different opinions in a discriminatory way.”

“Also, the conclusion negatively assesses the adoption of the draft by the Parliament in an expedited manner. We hope that the Parliament of Georgia will take into account the conclusion of the OSCE/ODIR and refuse to finally adopt the draft law,” the Ombudsman’s office said.