Lawyer Shota Tutberidze fined 4,000 lari over comment targeting Vice Speaker Tsilosani

A court in Georgia has fined lawyer Shota Tutberidze 4,000 lari after finding him liable for verbally insulting Vice Parliament Speaker Nino Tsilosani.

The ruling was delivered by Judge Davit Makaradze and relates to a comment Tutberidze posted under a social media message published by Tsilosani on 2 June concerning a visit to Canada.

Speaking after the hearing, Tutberidze said the court had concluded that Tsilosani felt insulted by the comment, but argued that his remarks were not offensive.

"The court determined that Nino Tsilosani felt insulted, but there was nothing insulting in what I wrote," he said. "It was simply a statement of fact and a clarification of what could have happened."

Tutberidze added that he had opposed the imposition of a fine and argued that, if the court had found an administrative offence had occurred, a different penalty should have been considered.

The case was initiated by the Interior Ministry's unit responsible for combating hate speech under provisions of Georgia's Administrative Offences Code that criminalise the verbal insult of political office holders.