Tbilisi City Court has completed the hearing of the appeal of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and issued a decision annulling the decision of the State Inspector to fine the Ministry of Justice of Georgia.

“The State Inspector’s Office declared the Ministry of Justice and the Special Penitentiary Service as violators for illegal disclosure of personal data of Mikheil Saakashvili.

As a result, the Ministry of Justice was found guilty of 2 administrative offences and the Special Penitentiary Service was found guilty of 6 administrative offenses, for which they were fined and were ordered to delete videos, audio-video recordings and photos containing Mikheil Saakashvili’s personal data.

The decision of the State Inspector Service was appealed by the Ministry and the Special Penitentiary Service to Tbilisi City Court on December 17, 2021, and the order issued by the State Inspector to delete videos, audio-video recordings and photographs containing Mikheil Saakashvili’s personal data has not been implemented.

The complaints of the Ministry and the Special Penitentiary Service were assigned to two different judges of Tbilisi City Court. Both of them scheduled the hearing of the cases in an unprecedentedly accelerated time - the hearing of the complaint of the Ministry was scheduled for December 28, which was notified to the State Inspector’s Office 3 working days earlier, and the hearing of the complaint of the Special Penitentiary Service - for December 29.

The Office submitted the materials in full to the court and ensured its representation at the hearings.

The State Inspector’s Office petitioned the judges to combine the cases, as the Ministry of Justice and the Special Penitentiary Service were held administratively liable by on decision of the State Inspector’s Office. None of the judges granted the motion”, - reads the statement of the State Inspector’s Office