Personal Data Protection Service to study case of “abusive calls” from unknown numbers
Since Tuesday the citizens have been contacted on their personal phone numbers regarding their protest of the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence, the Service noted. Photo via Personal Data Protection Service
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The Personal Data Protection Service on Wednesday said it would study the legality of processing citizens' telephone numbers by unknown individuals, after several citizens received phone calls from both foreign and Georgian numbers, in which the callers used “hateful and abusive” language towards them.
Since Tuesday the citizens have been contacted on their personal phone numbers regarding their protest of the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence, the Service noted.
Several activists, journalists, bloggers and citizens, protesting the transparency bill, which calls for the registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad, have received threatening calls from unknown callers.
Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for human rights defenders, on Wednesday said she had received “disturbing reports” of assault and threats on HRDs in Georgia.
The attacks on people for having “different or critical opinions” are “inadmissible and unacceptable”, Georgian Public Defender Levan Ioseliani said on Tuesday regarding recent assaults on several persons.
Levan Ioseliani, the Georgian Public Defender, on Wednesday called on protesters against the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence to maintain a “peaceful form of gathering” while also urging law enforcement to “refrain from interfering with the freedom of expression of our citizens”.
The Special Investigation Service on Tuesday said it had launched an investigation into an assault on Giorgi Kldiashvili, the Executive Director of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information and the Formula TV camera crew earlier today.