Over 300 citizens had an opportunity to file lawsuits against new surveillance bill from 12 noon to 6 pm, April 6, 2017 as a part of campaign organized by This Affects You, a group of civil society organizations campaigning against illegal surveillance. Interested persons were able to bring their lawsuits to the Office of Open Society Georgia Foundation in Tbilisi, the Office of Transparency International Georgia in Batumi and the Office of Georgian Young Lawyers Association in Kutaisi.
In order to file a lawsuit, a citizen of Georgia had to fill in all required fields of an electronic lawsuit available at www.esshengexeba.ge.
After observing all necessary procedures, the lawsuits will be sent to the Constitutional Court next week. The campaign group will defray all the expenses related to court fees, postal services and transportation as well as settle organizational issues.
The Constitutional Court has already ruled that the surveillance regulation is unconstitutional. However, the Parliament rejected the court ruling as well as the President’s motivated objections. President Margvelashvili vetoed the bill for three times, but the Parliament overrode presidential veto.
Thus, the new surveillance regulation fails to protect the right to privacy; so, the Georgian constitution has been violated. The new regulation further increases the risks of personal data disclosure. Just therefore, the campaign group developed an electronic lawsuit, which enables Georgian citizens to use all available legal mechanisms and appeal against the legislation.