Supreme Court of Georgia

Judgment in Favor of Freedom of Speech and Media

Published: 02/23/2012

Supreme Court of Georgia delivered judgment in favor of freedom of speech and expression, and media too.
Alexander Potskhishvili applied to the court against the newspaper “Asaval-dasavali” and demanded reimbursement of non-pecuniary damages because of the slanderous publication about him, which humiliated his honor, dignity and his business standing.
Supreme Court of Georgia delivered a judgment in favor of the newspaper “Asaval-dasavali”.

The Court decision was mainly guided by the law on “freedom of speech and expression.” In its decision Court observed, that free media is highly valuable in the democratic society and the exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

The Court concluded that the statements in the publication at issue could not be considered as defamation, because it contained no specific facts to prove the claim and these statements only served to impart the author’s opinions. The Court observed that freedom to hold opinion is protected by absolute privilege. 

The Supreme Court decided that, in this case, the whole context of the newspaper article should be assessed as, distinct form of the expression of the respondent’s own opinion during the open discussion about the subject matter of the public interest. The Supreme Court considered that the expression was under the protected area of the fundamental rights and excluded any responsibilities of the newspaper.

This is the second judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in favor of freedom of speech and media in 2012.