We, signatory organizations, respond to the disproportionate sanction imposed on the activist Nata Peradze and call on the Court of Appeal to reconsider the sentence ruled by the city court.
Judge of the Tbilisi City Court, Nino Scherbakova, sentenced Nata Peradze to five days of administrative detention for pouring paint on an image of Stalin. The decision will be appealed to the Tbilisi Court of Appeal.
This saction judged as a violation of the law can’t be considered proportionate to the fact. According to the Code of Administrative Offenses, imprisonment is imposed and applied only in exceptional cases. There was a non-violent protest, because of the fact that Stalin’s image was placed in Sameba Cathedral and such a severe and lengthy punishment breaches the standards of proportionality set by the European Court of Human Rights.
It’s notable, that the unlawful punishment of Nata Peradze once became the subject of consideration by the ECHR when the sanction applied to the activists was recognized as disproportionate. Therefore, we call on the Tbilisi Court of Appeal to be guided by current international legislation and to make a decision that respects human rights.
Signatory organizations:
- Human Rights Center
- Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy
- Democracy Research Institute
- Democracy Defenders
- Tbilisi Pride
- Green Alternative
- Partnership for Human Rights
- The SovLab – Soviet Past Research Laboratory
- Transparency International Georgia
- International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)
- Civil Society Foundation
- Georgian Democracy Initiative
- Georgia’s Reforms Associates
- Georgian Court Watch
- The Georgian Center for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims
- Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF)