Day: May 20, 2026
A man was arrested after he drove a car into the courtyard of the Patriarchate of Georgia in downtown Tbilisi on May 20, the Interior Ministry confirmed to Civil.ge.
According to the ministry, an investigation has been launched into “property damage” under Article 187 of Georgia’s Criminal Code. The offense is punishable by a fine, 100 to 180 hours of community service, corrective labour for up to one year, house arrest for six months to two years, or imprisonment for one to five years.
Several media outlets reported in the late afternoon that a Toyota Prius with a taxi sign crashed through a barrier and forced open the gate of the Patriarchate. No injuries were reported. The driver detained by police at the scene is reportedly a middle-aged man.
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The so-called prosecutor general’s office of occupied Abkhazia said Georgian citizen Giorgi Tsatava was sentenced to one year in a penal colony by a court in Gali, which found him guilty of “illegally crossing the state border” from Tbilisi-controlled territory. The verdict was delivered on May 19 by judge K.N. Lasuria.
According to the de facto agency, Tsatava crossed into Abkhazia from Tbilisi-controlled territory on August 12, 2025, by wading through the Enguri River, was detained on April 15, 2026, and placed the same day in the temporary detention facility in Gali.
The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) has yet to comment on the imprisonment of a Georgian citizen by the occupation forces.
In its 2025 annual report, the SSSG said 40 cases of illegal detention were recorded in occupied Abkhazia during the year. The report added that, by the end of 2025, 15 Georgian citizens remained in illegal custody in the occupied territories.
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