Month: April 2026
Protesters Tornike Toshkhua and Mindia Shervashidze were sentenced to one year in prison after being found guilty of group violence. Tbilisi City Court Judge Elene Goguadze delivered the verdict on April 1.
The jail sentence comes after eight months of court hearings, during which the defendants remained in custody, leaving them with five months still to serve.
Toshkhua and Shervashidze were arrested on August 16 over a disputed August 1 incident on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue before Parliament, where anti-government demonstrators have been gathering daily as part of nonstop protests since November 2024.
The incident involved Beka Gotsiridze, a late former football player in Georgia’s national team and an open supporter of the ruling Georgian Dream party, with authorities claiming that the two protesters attacked him during a nightly rally on Rustaveli Avenue. Protesters and bystanders allege that Gotsiridze provoked the altercation and had even tried to pull out a knife, which he dropped as he fell. According to activists, Gotsiridze had frequently insulted protesters on social media.
Gotsiridze died suddenly in February at the age of 37.
Critics denounced the arrests of protesters as selective justice, with police and courts moving harshly against activists while showing leniency toward ruling party-aligned attackers, often referred to as “titushki.”
When questioned by the court in December, Gotsiridze stated he had no “interest” in detaining the activists and would have welcomed their release on bail, according to Publika. He also confirmed that he had a knife on him during the incident, but strongly denied attempting to draw it, saying it had fallen out of his pocket after he fell during the physical altercation.
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The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), a local human rights group, said the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has begun examining an application challenging the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a Georgian version of the U.S. legislation adopted last year that foresees criminal penalties for those receiving foreign funding who fail to register as foreign agents.
According to GYLA, the ECtHR has also communicated the case to the Georgian government, sending a written set of questions regarding the alleged rights violations.
The joint application against FARA was filed with the ECtHR by a group of Georgian non-governmental and media organizations in September 2025, several months after the law was adopted and came into effect.
GYLA Chair Tamar Oniani, speaking at an April 1 briefing, said the ECtHR has started examining the complaints “with respect to all [disputed] articles.” According to her, GYLA argues a violation of several rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, including Article 11 (freedom of assembly), Article 10 (freedom of expression), Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination), and Article 18 (limits on the use of restrictions on rights).
She went on to say that the Court may grant the case “impact” case status. “This means that the Strasbourg court will consider the case on a priority basis, as it involves a legal issue of fundamental importance, and the decision in this case could set a precedent not only for Georgia but for all member states of the Council of Europe,” Oniani said.
FARA was the third “foreign agents” law introduced since 2023 and the second to take effect. It is widely considered harsher than its predecessor, the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence (Foreign Agents Law), as it extended restrictions from non-governmental organizations to individuals and introduced criminal penalties, including fines of up to GEL 10,000 (USD 3,650), up to five years in prison, or both.
The law “is a continuation of the restrictive legislative climate aimed at curbing civil society and media organizations,” Oniani said.
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