The Public Defender of Georgia is echoing the illegal restrictions on the freedom of assembly of railway workers, who have been on a hunger strike due to changes in labour conditions in front of the administrative building of JSC Georgian Railway for the second day. Representatives of the Public Defender of Georgia visited the workers and monitored their situation twice on August 15, 2017. The Public Defender considers that the workers are illegally deprived of the opportunity to put up a tent and thus proper realization of their freedom of assembly is hampered.

In the first half of August 15, the workers put up a tent quite distantly from the entrance of the building of the abovementioned institution for the workers who were on a hunger strike, but law enforcers demanded to remove the tent or put it up far from the building; later they forcedly removed it. According to the video footage showing the abovementioned, the workers’ questions about which legal regulations they had violated or what was the basis for banning them from putting up a tent were not responded with explanations by police officers. In the second half of the day, law enforcers explained they had received an order not to allow them to put up a tent, as it would disrupt traffic and movement of pedestrians. To avoid tension, the protesters refrained from putting up a tent and spent a night in the open air. Representatives of the Public Defender of Georgia talked to the protesters as well as law enforcement officers.

According to the information obtained by the Public Defender's Office and the video footage showing the incident, the protesters had not put up a tent or planned to do so on the part of the road that would hamper traffic; the entrance of the building was not blocked either.

The Public Defender has repeatedly discussed the issue of putting up tents in his public statements as well as his annual parliamentary report. Unfortunately, this problem is still active on the agenda. Consequently, the Public Defender reiterates that, pursuant to the legislative regulations, it is inadmissible the state to restrict the use of a tent by demonstrators, if no entrance of a building is blocked or traffic is illegally hindered. The right to put up tents and other non-permanent constructions is clarified in the OSCE Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly.[1] This issue was a matter of discussion in the Georgian judiciary system too, when Tbilisi City Court ruled by its decision of 31 August 2016 that Tbilisi City Hall’s decision of 25 August 2016 to restrict the Guerilla Gardeners’ freedom of assembly and right to put up a tent in front of the administrative building of Tbilisi City Hall was illegal.

Considering the constitutional rule, the state must be the primary guarantor for the protection of the rights enshrined in the national and international standards. However, in many cases the state has itself hindered freedom of assembly. In addition, citizens should not be forced to refuse to enjoy their rights due to the expectation that law enforcers will act illegally.

According to the Public Defender of Georgia, qualified awareness of the employees of the law enforcement agencies about all aspects of their state obligations in relation to the freedom of assembly is still problematic. Consequently, the Public Defender urges the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to introduce the lawful principles related to the freedom of assembly effectively and as soon as possible. At the same time, appropriate measures should be taken in relation to the violation of law on 15 August and participants of the current or future demonstrations should not be deprived of their right to put up tents or realize their freedom of assembly.