On December 22, 2023, the Public Defender of Georgia and representatives of the Public Defender’s Office met with former/current employees of the Abastumani Observatory and their family members. The issues of legality of different rules for entering and moving around the territory of the observatory established by the order of the Director of the Evgeni KharadzeGeorgian National Astrophysical Observatory and the necessity of the imposed restrictions were discussed at the meeting.

The participants in the meeting expressed their position that the observatory administration planned to continue the restrictions set by the order without justification, which would further limit their visits to their family members and residences and, accordingly, would violate their right to private and family life.

The Public Defender of Georgia expressed his willingness to study the issue in case of the extension of the order and pointed out that in case of continuation of the restrictions, the obligation of the observatory's administration to justify the decision would increase, adding that each such additional restriction must strictly respond to the criteria of proportionality of the restriction of the right.