The Constitutional Court of Georgia accepted the constitutional claim of the Information Resources Network (Sakartvelos Ambebi) against the Parliament for consideration. The plaintiff argues that disputable norms in the Election Code of Georgia brings online media under the control of the Georgian National Communication Commission in such a way that the latter is given a legislative mandate to draw up an administrative offence report against print and Internet media while the Commission only has the authority to issue TV and radio broadcasting licenses.
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The case concerns, on the one hand, banning the publication of public opinion surveys for the Internet media within 48 hours before the day of voting and until 20:00 on the day of the election and the obligation to indicate information about the subject who ordered the poll when publishing the results of public opinion polls related to elections; On the other hand, considering the Internet media as the subject of an administrative offense in case of violation of the aforementioned prohibitions.
On May 24, 2019, the Communications Commission issued an administrative offence report against the Information Resources Network (IRN) for the material published on the website – “Kaladze and Saakashvili have the highest rating among politicians – research”. The Communications Commission demanded a fine of 1,500 GEL for the online publication, explaining that the website published the results of the public opinion poll related to the elections within 48 hours before the voting.
District court Judge Devi Devidze closed the administrative offense case against the online publication. With this decision, Judge Devi Devidze changed the practice previously established by various courts, according to which the Communications Commission illegally extended its regulation to online media.
The Communications Commission appealed to the Tbilisi Court of Appeals, which canceled the decision of the district court and sent the case back to the same judge for consideration. With the explanation that the practice is established by the Court of Appeal, the District Court satisfied the request of the Communications Commission this time and recognized the IRN as offender.
Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association on behalf of the IRN, appealed to the Constitutional Court. Lawyer Giorgi Gotsiridze defends the interests of the media organization in the Constitutional Court.
The protocol of the plenum of the Constitutional Court has attached dissenting opinion of judges: Irine Imerlishvili, Giorgi Kverenchkhiladze and Teimuraz Tughushi regarding the reasoning of the majority of the plenum. It is noted that the institutional-organizational freedom of the media is protected by the first sentence of article 17 (3) of the Constitution of Georgia. Regarding the constitutionality of limiting the dissemination of information of specific content, when it concerns, among other things, the dissemination of information by the media, it can be evaluated in relation to the 2nd and 5th points of Article 17 of the Constitution of Georgia.
The authors of the dissenting opinion do not agree with the definition of the Constitutional Court’s plenum majority related to the first sentence of Article 17(3) of the Constitution of Georgia. They consider that such a resolution of the issue represents a change in the established practice of the Constitutional Court, which will have a negative impact on mass media. It will also affect the extent and quality of rights protection.
The case is reviewed by the Plenum of the Constitutional Court of Georgia, which consists of following judges: Merab Turava, Eva Gotsiridze, Giorgi Tevdorashvili, Irina Imerlishvili, Giorgi Kverenchkiladze, Khvicha Kikilashvili, Manana Kobakhidze, Vasil Roinishvili and Teimuraz Tughushi.
