Given the high public interest, we are presenting the response of the Public Defender of Georgia to the amendments made to the legislative acts regulating the rules for holding Assemblies and Demonstrations.

The Public Defender of Georgia assessed the legislative amendments made to the Law of Georgia on Assemblies and Demonstrations, the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia and the Criminal Code of Georgia in 2025 as problematic.

On January 20, 2026, the Public Defender appealed the prohibitions and liability norms related to the procedure for holding assemblies and demonstrations to the Constitutional Court.[1] The constitutional claim, along with other substantive prohibitions and liability measures, challenges the norms related to standing on the sidewalk, which prohibit assembly participants from intentionally creating obstacles to the movement of people or transport and artificially blocking the roadway or pedestrian areas.

The Public Defender believes that the disputed norms are vague, their disputed normative content fails to meet the requirements of foreseeability of the law and contradicts the freedom of assembly and expression guaranteed by the Constitution.

It should be noted that the Public Defender responded to the legislative provision prohibiting the artificial blocking of the roadway with a public statement[2] as well. According to the Public Defender, it is not clearly foreseeable in which case the expression of protest on the sidewalk can create a legitimate basis for interference with the right, especially when the exercise of the right in this form is usually carried out for a short period of time.

In addition, the Public Defender of Georgia, in connection with the cases of recognizing the participants in the assembly as violators of the law due to the creation of obstacles to the movement of pedestrians on the sidewalk, applied to the Tbilisi Court of Appeal with a general opinion of the friend of the court[3] (amicus curiae) and provided information on the relevant human rights standards.

The Public Defender monitors the situation of the full exercise of freedom of assembly and calls on the relevant authorities not to restrict the rights of participants in peaceful assemblies.

[1] https://ombudsman.ge/geo/akhali-ambebi/sakhalkho-damtsveli-shekrebebisa-da-manifestatsiebis-chatarebis-tsestan-dakavshirebul-akrdzalvebsa-da-pasukhismgeblobis-normebs-sakonstitutsio-sasamartloshi-asachivrebs

[2] https://www.ombudsman.ge/geo/akhali-ambebi/sakartvelos-sakhalkho-damtsvelis-gantskhadeba-shekrebis-uflebis-realizatsiis-taobaze-gankhortsielebuli-sakanonmdeblo-tsvlilebebis-fonze

[3] https://ombudsman.ge/res/docs/2026050110445435812.pdf