Court Fines Man for Pouring Paint on Official
A court in Georgia has fined a man 500 GEL (around $150 USD) for pouring black paint on the head of the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC).
The incident happened last November, when Davit Kirtadze, a representative of the “National Movement”, splashed paint on Giorgi Kalandarishvili, the chairman of the CEC. The CEC was holding a session at the time to approve election results.
Kirtadze’s lawyer argued that it was unclear what action he had taken to warrant punishment. “It’s hard to determine what actions Mr. Davit is responsible for,” said Ivane Petriashvili, Kirtadze’s lawyer. “He’s a member of the CEC, so it’s not clear how he interfered with its work.”
The Ministry of Internal Affairs had launched an investigation into the incident under Article 118 of the Criminal Law Code, which covers intentional damage to health.
In the end, judge Davit Tsekvava decided on a fine of 500 GEL for Kirtadze’s actions.