On February 26, monitors of the Democracy Research Institute observed the rally organized by the Change civil movement at the back entrance of the administrative building of the Parliament of Georgia.

Protesters attempted to hand a symbolically created passport of a Soviet citizen to Giorgi Volski, First Deputy Chairman of the Parliament, through the chancellery of the Parliament of Georgia.

The civil activists were not allowed by the Special State Protection Service to approach the Chancellery of the Parliament located in the public part of the Parliament building and to hand in the "passport". As a result, protesters were forced to fill in an application, handed over to them by a representative of the chancellery, in an informal environment, on an iron construction erected at the back entrance of the Parliament.

Representatives of the Democracy Research Institute were also refused by the Special State Protection Service to enter the chancellery and hand in the application.

According to the Law of Georgia on the Special State Protection Service, the task of the Special State Protection Service is to protect administrative buildings of the highest state bodies of Georgia and the adjacent territories from unlawful actions, and to protect order on those territories, within its competence.

According to the Democracy Research Institute, considering the peaceful nature of the rally, the number of people involved (10) and the content of their actions, there was no real or specific danger to public safety/order. Consequently, the protesters’ action was not unlawful.

In view of the above, the Democracy Research Institute considers that the action of the officers of the Special State Protection Service, namely restricting the protesters from accessing the Chancellery located in the public part of the Parliament of Georgia, had no legal ground. 

Considering that pursuant to paragraph 34 of Decree No 259/3 of the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, dated December 30, 2016, the Head of Office of the Parliament of Georgia is in charge of supervising the execution of the order on protection of safety in the palace of the Parliament of Georgia and its adjacent territory, the Democracy Research Institute applied to the Head of Office of the Parliament of Georgia in writing and requested explanations regarding the legal grounds for restricting the citizens’ access to the building of the Parliament of Georgia (including the chancellery) from 15:05 to 15:35 on February 26, 2020.