President Zurabishvili to discuss proposed amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences with opposition bloc members

Earlier yesterday, it was announced that President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili will be meeting members of the country’s opposition bloc in order to discuss the proposed amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences. The president has already met several opposition politicians including one of the co-founders of the opposition Girchi party Iago Kvichia and representatives of the Citizens party, and she is going to hear the opinion of the other opposition parties on the matter, including Strategy Agmashenebeli’s leader Giorgi Vashadze and Salome Samadashvili.

The proposed amendments aim at introducing stricter punishments for administrative offences, specifically petty hooliganism and disobedience to the law enforcement agents. Under the new bill, the fine for a repeated case of petty hooliganism will be increased from GEL500 to GEL1,500, and the maximum fine threshold will be increased from 1,000 to 2,000 GEL. Similarly, those, charged with failure to comply with the legal requirement of a police officer in the line of duty, will now be facing a fine of up to GEL4,500 (as opposed to the GEL4,000 maximum thresholds that were in place before), and the minimum fine for such an offence will be increased from GEL1000 to GEL2000.

The proposed bill will be passed if the president signs it. Meanwhile, a number of opposition parties have urged the president to veto the bill. The criticism of the proposed amendments was also expressed in the official statement issued by the US Embassy in Georgia:

“We are deeply disappointed by the ruling party’s rushed passage of amendments to Georgia’s Administrative Violations Code today. Expedited passage of these amendments was unnecessary and unhelpful. The lack of meaningful consultation with opposition parties, civil society, and other stakeholders raises questions about the purpose of the amendments.

[…] Georgia now has a broad-based multiparty Parliament, which is what voters chose. It is time for all parties, especially Georgian Dream, to work together in Parliament to address the priority issues of importance to the people of Georgia”, the statement reads.

In turn, some members of the Parliamentary majority stated that there is no reason to veto the proposed bill:

“There is no reason to veto the law in any way. Let's wait for further developments, but we think that the justification behind the proposed amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences is enough to convince everyone that this law is based on the existing data, is a constitutional decision and serves no other purpose,” member of the Parliamentary majority, MP Davit Matikashvili told journalists.