Day: July 25, 2026

Giorgi Akhobadze, a doctor and anti-government activist, has been sentenced to 25 days of administrative detention after Tbilisi City Court Judge Manuchar Tsatsua reportedly found him guilty of several administrative offenses stemming from allegedly insulting public and police officials, including on social media.

Several media outlets, including opposition-leaning TV Pirveli and pro-government Rustavi 2 channels, reported that the case consolidated a series of Facebook posts where Akhobadze allegedly insulted Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, GD lawmaker Levan Makhashvili, and police officer Grigol Kachkachishvili.

Kachkachishvili, an investigator, was involved in the earlier criminal case against Akhobadze, who spent eight months in pre-trial custody on serious drug charges. Akhobadze’s verdict in August 2025 marked the first not-guilty verdict in a series of arrests and prosecutions that government critics linked with pro-EU protests that erupted in November 2024. Similar drug-related arrests sparked allegations that police may be planting drugs against government critics.

“F**k every police officer who plants drugs. I will repeat myself here again,” Akhobadze told TV Pirveli, reacting to the July 24 ruling, noting he had also used the phrase during an earlier phone conversation with Kachkachishvili while trying to recover the items confiscated when he was detained on drug charges.

The administrative detention follows another administrative case against Akhobadze earlier this month. On July 8, the Tbilisi City Court fined him GEL 3,000 (about USD 1,140) over a Facebook comment directed at Vato Shakarashvili, a member of the anti-EU and Georgian Dream-aligned group United Neutral Georgia. Akhobadze’s refusal to pay that fine allegedly contributed to a stricter penalty.

The ruling also came two days after a similar ruling sentencing Formula TV journalist Vakho Sanaia to two weeks’ detention over a Facebook post about Georgian Dream MPs, a decision that drew widespread condemnation, including from foreign officials and international human rights groups.

Expanding Crackdown

Akhobadze’s latest detention comes amid an expanding crackdown on social media posts deemed “insulting” toward public officials and figures.

Although a series of rulings over public “insults” had been delivered over the past year, with the ruling Georgian Dream party pledging last summer to proactively sue critics over social media “insults,” the crackdown intensified after the Interior Ministry’s Division for Combating Hate Speech started its work on June 1, 2026. The division’s stated goal is to proactively monitor what authorities describe as “hate speech” in public spaces, including on social media, and to submit administrative complaints to the courts.

Since its launch, the division has initiated dozens of administrative cases over social media posts and comments, resulting in fines ranging from GEL 1,500 to GEL 6,000. Hearings related to these cases have become a regular feature in courts across the country.

Most of the proceedings rely on Articles 166 (petty hooliganism) and 173 (insulting or disobeying a police officer) of Georgia’s Code of Administrative Offenses.

The division’s work has drawn criticism from opposition politicians and government critics, who argue that sanctions have been imposed even when the public officials allegedly “insulted” neither filed complaints nor were asked whether they considered the statements offensive. Critics have also pointed to the broad interpretation adopted by the courts, saying that findings of “insult” have extended beyond swearing, including to curses.

Also Read:

• 16/06/2026 – First Fines Reported Over ‘Insulting’ GD, Opposition Figures as MIA’s ‘Hate Speech’ Division Starts Work
• 09/07/2025 – Activist Jailed for Five Days Over “Insult” in Facebook Comment
• 12/06/2025 – Politicians, Journalists, Activists Summoned to Court Over Social Media “Insults” to GD MPs

Georgia: activist Giorgi Akhobadze sentenced over FB post

On July 24, another person in Georgia was sentenced to administrative detention over a Facebook post containing profanity. Giorgi Akhobadze, a doctor and active participant in the country’s pro-European protests, was sentenced to 25 days in detention.

The ruling was issued by Tbilisi City Court. Giorgi Akhobadze did not attend the hearing.

He was represented by his lawyer, Mikheil Zakareishvili.

A few hours after the ruling, Akhobadze was arrested during a special police operation at his home.

Georgia jails opposition TV host for 14 days over Facebook posts

The journalist’s posts concerned Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and MP Vladimer Bozhadze.

Administrative proceedings against Giorgi Akhobadze were initiated following a complaint by the Interior Ministry’s recently established Department for Monitoring Hate Speech.

Akhobadze was sentenced over a Facebook post in which he used profanity to insult police officers who had testified against him in an earlier criminal case.

In December 2024, Akhobadze was returning home from a pro-European protest (which has continued in Georgia for nearly two years) when he was detained by police. He was searched and charged with purchasing and possessing drugs.

Akhobadze and his lawyers maintained that the drugs had been planted on him during the arrest. After an eight-month trial, he was acquitted and released from the courtroom in August 2025.

The Facebook post that led to his current administrative sentence referred specifically to the police officers whom Akhobadze accuses of planting the drugs.

“I stand by every word of that post,” Akhobadze told TV Pirveli after learning of the court’s decision, repeating the profane insult directed at the police officers.

“I’ll spend 25 days in a cell, get some rest, and if they think I’ll come out thinking differently, they’re very much mistaken,” Akhobadze said before his arrest.

On fines and detention for offensive social media posts

Giorgi Akhobadze is the second person to receive a jail sentence over comments posted on social media.

A few days earlier, on July 22, Tbilisi City Court sentenced well-known journalist and Formula TV host Vakho Sanaia to 14 days of administrative detention.

Sanaia had published a Facebook post containing profane and insulting language directed at senior officials of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

• ‘Threat of censorship’: What we know about Georgia’s new Interior Ministry department overseeing public communication
• Opinion: ‘The calculation is that people will resort to self-censorship’

Administrative cases over opinions expressed in public are being initiated on the basis of reports filed by the Interior Ministry’s new Department for Monitoring Hate Speech, which began operating on June 1.

The department’s mandate is to monitor and proactively identify statements that violate human dignity, are insulting, or incite hatred, where they may constitute an administrative offence.

According to the Georgian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, between June 1 and July 2 the department identified 170 alleged administrative offences and referred 150 cases to court.

Courts have already ruled on 33 of those cases: 31 people were fined and two received verbal warnings. Most of those fined are activists taking part in the mass protests demanding that Georgia return to the path of European integration.

News in Georgia