RAMISHVILI v. GEORGIA

Published on 8 April 2024 FIFTH SECTIONApplication no. 4100/24Mikheil RAMISHVILIagainst Georgialodged on 7 February 2024communicated on 18 March 2024SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASEThe application concerns a civil defamation claim brought by the applicant, a known defence counsel, in respect of a statement made by Father I., a prominent clergyman of the Georgian Orthodox Church during one of his televised interviews. In particular, the applicant complained that Father I. had referred to him as an “informer” and provocateur” when discussing his role as a defendant’s counsel in a high-profile criminal case concerning an attempted murder of the Patriarch’s personal secretary, and further claimed that the applicant had fed information to the Director of the Constitutional Security at the Ministry of Interior when representing the interests of a victim’s family in another high-profile criminal case …