Court fines 0pposition Alliance of Patriots for anti-Turkish political ads

Tbilisi City Court has fined opposition Alliance of Patriots  of Georgia party 2,000 GEL for violating the election code.

Central Election Commission Chairwoman Tamar Zhvania filed an administrative complaint against the party on September 10

• CEC says opposition Alliance of Patriots’ anti-Turkish ads violate election code

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) informed the CEC of the party violations on September 2.

It said the Alliance of Patriots had released six election videos and related Facebook ads in order to trigger hostility among Georgian citizens towards Turkey. The ads also contained signs of religious and ethnic hatred.

• De facto Abkhaz leader’s ‘advisor’ resigns after Alliance of Patriots’ controvesial visit to occupied Abkhazia

The election code ‘prohibits election program  that contains propaganda for 'national strife and enmity, or for religious or ethnic confrontation’.

Georgian opposition parties have demand the Alliance of Patriots be prohibited from running in the October parliamentary elections following the release of an investigation of the Dossier Center, which tracked the criminal activities associated with the Kremlin.