According to the statement of Tbilisi City Council member, Shalva Ogbaidze, more than 7,000 drivers were fined for parking rule violations in a one-week period in February to March 2016. Of these, approximately 1,000 individuals were given GEL 200 fines. Mr Ogbaidze stated: "Currently, a rumour is circulating in Tbilisi that the patrol police has no mercy. I would correct that statement and say that the law does not have any mercy toward anybody."

FactCheck

took interest in the issue.

The violation of traffic rules by drivers of motor vehicles is regulated by the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia. In the case of violations of traffic rules (for instance, parking in a non-designated parking place, tailgating, etc.) as defined in Parts 6 and 8 of Article 125 of the Administrative Offences Code, the amount of fines fluctuates from GEL 10 to GEL 20. The same violation in occurrences when it causes a car accident or creates a traffic jam receives a fine of GEL 200.  According to the Code, this regulation has already been in force for many years. It has, however, never been strictly enforced. According to the statement of the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Shalva Khutsishvili, the patrol police has now started a stricter enforcement of traffic rules in order to prevent traffic jams.

According to the information requested by FactCheck

from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we can see that from 1 October 2015 to 1 January 2016, GEL 200 fines for the violation of parking rules were issued 366 times (102 cases were registered in Tbilisi). This same fine was given 934 times (782 cases were registered in Tbilisi) in the period of 1 January to 1 March 2016.

Table 1:

 Fines Given for Violation of Parking Rules According to Region

Region	Period	GEL 10 Fine	Total (GEL)	GEL 200 Fine	Total (GEL)
Tbilisi	01/01/2016-01/03/2016	25,847	258,470	782	156,400
Ajara	01/01/2016-01/03/2016	2,050	20,500	11	2,200
Imereti	01/01/2016-01/03/2016	11,314	113,140	31	6,200
Samegrelo	01/01/2016-01/03/2016	2,338	23,380	8	1,600
Shida Kartli	01/01/2016-01/03/2016	2,557	25,570	21	4,200
Kvemo Kartli	01/01/2016-01/03/2016	3,280	32,800	15	3,000
Samtskhe-Javakheti	01/01/2016-01/03/2016	1,423	14,230	11	2,200
Mtskheta-Mtianeti	01/01/2016-01/03/2016	497	4,970	47	9,400
Kakheti	01/01/2016-01/03/2016	2,660	26,600	5	1,000
Guria	01/01/2016-01/03/2016	1,516	15,160	3	600

Some non-governmental organisation sector members negatively assess the patrol police giving out the GEL 200 fines for the violation of parking rules. The Head of the Eco Transport Centre, Vasil Urushadze, stated that the GEL 200 fine is the result of an incorrect interpretation of the law because there is no legal definition of what constitutes a traffic jam. Mr Urushadze is of the opinion that mobilising funds for the budget is the reason behind the imposition of the fines.

Gela Kvashilava, Chairperson of the Partnership for Road Safety NGO which works on road safety issues, is demanding changes to the legislation and a clear differentiation of road offences. Mr Kvashilava believes that having parking violations clearly written out in the law, thereby removing the chances for an otherwise interpretation of the law on the part of the patrol police, is important.

Shalva Ogbaidze himself positively assesses the strict sanctions applied by Georgia’s patrol police for the violation of parking rules and believes that this method will improve road safety and decrease traffic jams.

Conclusion The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirms the imposition of the increased fines by the patrol police in order to penalise motor vehicle drivers for violations of parking rules. According to the information received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there were 934 fines in the amount of GEL 200 given in the period of 1 January to 1 March 2016 which is three times more as compared to the number in the previous three months. FactCheck

was unable to verify the exact one-week period (25 February to 1 March 2016) as mentioned by Shalva Ogbaidze. However, according to the information we received, it is evident that the statement of the Tbilisi City Council member largely corresponds to the existing data.

FactCheck concludes that Shalva Ogbaidze’s statement is TRUE.