Displaying Occupied Georgian Regions as Independent to Be Criminally Tried

The Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Georgia plans to discuss the new initiative regarding displaying occupied territories of Georgia on the map.

In case of representing the regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinkvali (South Ossetia), currently occupied by Russia, as the independent territories, without including them within the legal borders of Georgia on the map, will cause the punitive sanctions under the criminal code of Georgia.

Publication, release, import and export of a printed map of the country, excluding the occupied territories, will be considered as putting the territorial integrity under question and will be sentenced to fine or imprisonment up to two years.

Irakli Sesiashvili and Otar Chrdileli, lawmakers from the ruling party and the authors of the initiative say that the bill will prevent cases of the country’s borders being incorrectly illustrated on maps.

Displaying Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent states has recently been a matter of strong debates as there was a number of incidents, including one at the World Chess Olympiad held in Batumi in October, 2018, when the two regions were not included within the borders of Georgia at the gift maps issued at the event by the representatives of the Russian delegation.

By Ketevan Kvaratskheliya

Image source: EU observer