A food delivery man in Tbilisi has been fined by a court for cursing out the mayor, Kakha Kaladze, and the police for the traffic chaos in TikTok.
Fines for views expressed on social media are unprecedented in Georgia.
"If you don't want to hear swearing, don't watch and don't listen," says the deliveryman in the video, in which he lashes out at officials misusing bus lanes.
The man was fined GEL 2,000 in a landmark case that Nona Kurdovanidze, head of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA), says is unprecedented and reflects a "dangerous trend".
"The protest is aimed at people who allow themselves to drive in the lane reserved for public transport, where driving is forbidden for anyone, regardless of their position. It also strongly criticizes and curses those policemen who selectively fine citizens and employees of state bodies and people close to them who are not held accountable," the GYLA said in its quarterly report.
The court said that social networks, including TikTok, constitute a "public space" and "any person who publishes information on this platform is obliged to comply with socially accepted norms of ethics and morality".
"According to the court, the content of the published video went beyond the scope of freedom of speech and expression. The court did not discuss the nature of the social network and did not justify in what way public order and the peace of other citizens were violated," the rights group's report said.
The court specifically found that the video contained "verbal abuse of law enforcement officials", which violates Article 173 of Georgia's Code of Administrative Offences.
A police officer saw the video on the social network and "perceived it as an insult", which, according to the court's statement, "led to an appropriate consequence - the preparation of a violation report against the person who violated the law".
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