The Tbilisi City Court has fined activist Badri Shubladze GEL 2,000 for insulting Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze, head of the Public Relations Service of the Georgian Patriarchate, in a social media post.
The ruling was delivered by Judge Zviad Tsekvava.
Speaking after the decision, Shubladze said the case stemmed from a comment in which he referred to Jagmaidze as “a pig” and claimed he was “not Georgian, not even a ‘Ghruzini,’ but a full-fledged ‘Ghrusi'”—using derogatory terms associated with Georgians and Russians.
“I do not think I insulted Jagmaidze. The pig is more likely insulted by being mentioned alongside Jagmaidze. A member of the clergy should not be a millionaire and own enormous wealth,” Shubladze said.
The activist also criticized the deadline for paying the fine.
“I was given one week to pay, and I do not know how a pensioner receiving a GEL 500 pension is supposed to collect the money in one week,” he said.
The case was brought before the court by the Hate Speech Combat Unit established within Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, which sought legal action over the activist’s social media post.
