Hearing of Tornike Razmadze’s administrative case in court

In the Tbilisi City Court, Judge Nino Enukidze began the hearing of the administrative case of civil activist Tornike Razmadze. The case concerns a comment written under a video posted by Razmadze on the social network Facebook on August 18, 2026. Publika+1

According to the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mariam Kereselidze, Razmadze is accused of insulting the "ruling team" and not of insulting the Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan. According to Kereselidze, since the name of a specific person was not mentioned in the comment, the case was initiated under Article 166, which provides for swearing and cursing in a public space. Publika+1

Tornike Razmadze himself states that the phrase of Margarita Simonyan was paraphrased in the comment he wrote. According to Razmadze, the position of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was unclear to him, but in court, the judge explained to him that he is not being accused of insulting a public official (Article 173). Imedi+1

Ministry of Internal Affairs representative Mariam Kereselidze noted that Razmadze knew the details and evidence of the case, but played on the emotions of the public. Razmadze, however, stated that after clarifying the qualification of the case and the subject of the dispute, he needed time to find a lawyer, for which he asked the court to grant a reasonable period of time. Imedi+1