Tengiz Sharmanashvili: US Embassy must explain its concern; our laws ban public abuse, mirroring most of Europe
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will likely issue an appropriate response to the US Embassy, as our legislation prohibits the public abuse of individuals. This is entirely normal, and similar legislation is in force not only in Georgia, but across most European nations. If they have questions, I am confident the foreign ministry will address them,” parliamentary majority member, MP Tengiz Sharmanashvili, told GPB First Channel.
Sharmanashvili was commenting on a statement by the US Embassy, reported by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, expressing “concern regarding the department for combating hate speech.”
“The US Embassy should state specifically why it is concerned. For instance, does German judicial practice behave any differently? When an individual was fined for comments directed at Merz, which were not even outright obscenities, the German courts clarified that such actions are unacceptable. In that case, it should be made clear where this judicial practice is actually valid. The notion that Europeans are permitted to do this, whilst Georgians are not, is unacceptable and wrong. If they explain that the practice of British or German courts is wrong, then we too can re-evaluate our approach. But if they assert that they are allowed to do it while Georgians are not, that is discrimination, segregation, and a flawed approach,” Sharmanashvili declared.
According to Sharmanashvili, the line separating freedom of expression from insult and hate speech is established through judicial precedent.
“For example, the European Convention on Human Rights can only be interpreted by the Strasbourg court through its rulings. If domestic courts misinterpret these rulings, an appeal is lodged with the ECHR, which conducts a final review and determines whether the law was correctly interpreted. Thus, both at the European and national levels, establishing this boundary is solely the prerogative of the courts,” stated Tengiz Sharmanashvili.