On Thursday, the Constitutional Court begins considering the lawsuit related to the suspension and annulment of the law "On transparency of foreign influence".
The consideration of the claim will start at 11:00.
The Plenum of the Constitutional Court of Georgia is considering the case."The Constitutional Court of Georgia will hold a regulatory hearing on the case "President of Georgia, Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information", JSC "Rights Georgia", JSC "Civil Society Foundation" and others (a total of 122 plaintiffs) ), members of the Parliament of Georgia: Tamar Kordzaia, Ana Natsvlishvili, Levan Bezhashvili and others (a total of 38 MPs), LLC "Network of Information Centers" and JSC "Studio Monitor" against the Parliament of Georgia" (constitutional lawsuits #1828, #1829 , No. 1834, No. 1837).
According to the presented constitutional lawsuits, the law of Georgia "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" is disputed, which establishes the procedure for registration of an entity as an organization carrying out the interests of a foreign power and regulates other issues related to the transparency of the activities of an organization carrying out the interests of a foreign power.
According to the plaintiffs' arguments, the controversial law, taking into account the terminology used in it and various repressive mechanisms, leads to the stigmatization of civil organizations and media, hindering their activities, impossibility of achieving the set goals and, ultimately, delaying or at least stopping their functioning.
According to the claimant's explanation, the disputed norms, in the absence of relevant criteria for identifying a legitimate goal and foreign influence, damage the social identity of the subjects and arbitrarily limit the right to free development of the individual protected by the Constitution of Georgia. Along with the mentioned, the registration in the public register of entities provided for by the law, the form of accountability, the monitoring procedure and the measures of responsibility violate the freedoms of association and expression protected by the Constitution of Georgia. The claimant also points out that the manner of personal data processing defined by the disputed law contradicts the formal and material requirements of the right to private life and personal communication, and the extension of the obligations stipulated by the disputed norms to legal relationships that arose and ended before the law came into force violates the principle of non-retroactivity of the law protected by the Constitution of Georgia. Some of the plaintiffs also believe that the disputed norms cause them to be discriminated against, as they put them in an unequal position compared to non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities established by administrative bodies, which are financed from the state budget.
In addition, the claimant believes that the adoption of the Law of Georgia "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" contradicts the basic principles of the Georgian Constitution and hinders the process of Georgia joining the European Union, thereby violating the obligation defined by Article 78 of the Constitution of Georgia.
The authors of the constitutional lawsuits are also petitioning the Constitutional Court to suspend the validity of the disputed norms until the final decision is made.
The Plenum of the Constitutional Court of Georgia is considering the case.
