Based on the information disseminated by the media and provided to the Public Defender's Office on 9 November 2018, even though no preliminary warning was required in the given case, on November 1, Zaza Saralidze addressed the Tbilisi City Hall with a letter and requested a permit to continue demonstrations till 31 December and to set up tents. According to the response received from the City Hall, Zaza Saralidze was instructed according to Article 10 of the Law on Assembly and Demonstration to change the time and place of demonstration after December 7, in order to allow that the ceremony of switching on the lights of the main New Year tree is not hampered in front of the parliament building.

It should be taken into consideration that the organizer of a demonstration is obliged to warn the City Hall in advance only if the demonstration is to be held on the roadway or otherwise hinders traffic. In case of receiving such a warning, the executive body of local self-government is entitled to recommend that the place and time of the demonstration be changed only if the demonstration creates a real threat to the functioning of enterprises, institutions or organizations, or if another demonstration is to be held at the same place and time (warning of which was filed with the executive body of local self-government earlier). Thus, the legislation does not allow interference with freedom of assembly on the ground indicated by the Tbilisi City Hall.

It should be noted that the demonstrations in support of Zaza Saralidze and Malkhaz Machalikashvili have been held in front of the parliament building since spring. During this period, the Public Defender has repeatedly responded to the cases, when the demonstrators were prevented by law enforcers from setting up a tent and evaluated it as the interference with the right to assembly. The Public Defender has filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court concerning this issue. She also filed an amicus curiae brief with the Tbilisi City Court.

The right to assembly and demonstration is an integral part of a healthy political and social process, while the full enjoyment of this right determines the degree of democracy of the country and openness of the society. Consequently, the Public Defender calls on the Tbilisi City Hall and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia not to hamper the realization of the above-mentioned constitutional right on the basis of artificial and unlawful arguments in case of the demonstrators’ desire to continue demonstrations on the mentioned territory.