“Arresting a person in Georgia over their views on a 34-year-old war is a legal absurdity” - opinion
Opinion on Giorgi Baramidze’s arrest
“Arresting someone over an opinion expressed in a historical programme about a 34-year-old war — especially when he has since apologised for the statement — is a legal absurdity,” said Tamta Mikeladze, director of the Social Justice Center, commenting on the arrest of Georgian opposition leader and former defence minister Giorgi Baramidze.
On 11 September, Giorgi Baramidze was arrested on charges of treason against the state, specifically sabotage. His arrest followed an interview on the programme “Birth of Georgia”, in which he said that at the beginning of the 1992–93 Georgian-Abkhaz war, the Georgian side had no prisoners because they were “shot”.
Tamta Mikeladze: “Arresting someone over an opinion expressed in a historical programme about a 34-year-old war — especially when he has since apologised for the statement — is a legal absurdity.
The prosecutor’s argument that the statement damaged Georgia’s international standing and image, offended the honour of war veterans and so on has no basis in criminal law. If specific individuals believed Baramidze had defamed them, they could have taken him to court in a civil case.
Claims that the statement could be used in international legal proceedings are also unfounded. There are no international legal proceedings concerning the war in Abkhazia, and Baramidze was not a decision-maker at the time. His words therefore could not carry the kind of weight that would affect any legal consequences.
Arresting someone for expressing an opinion – even if that opinion is unfounded, foolish, offensive or unacceptable – is therefore an unimaginable departure from the rule of law.”
Mikeladze also examines the alleged offence in detail and points to a mismatch between the charge and the statement, arguing that no remarks of this kind can legally constitute sabotage.
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