New movement could amount to criminal offence, lawyer

Georgian lawyer Omar Purtseladze said the creation of a newly announced movement aimed at opposing people on ideological grounds could constitute a serious criminal offence and warned it risked further deepening political polarization.

In a social media post on Monday, Purtseladze was responding to the announcement by MMA fighter Giorgi Kartvelishvili, who said he had established a movement to defend Georgian values, traditions and Orthodox Christianity.

Quoting Kartvelishvili's statements that the movement would "begin fighting people and groups with a distorted ideology" and that its members were prepared to face imprisonment if necessary, Purtseladze argued that, taken on their own, the remarks and the creation of such an organisation could amount to "a serious criminal offence."

He further said that the establishment of an organisation aimed at persecuting people on ideological grounds by individuals he described as being close to the authorities represented not only a legal issue but also "a political statement."

Purtseladze said he hoped "someone would show at least a minimum degree of prudence" to prevent further radicalisation in what he described as Georgia's already deeply polarised political environment.