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Day: September 22, 2026
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Georgian IT worker Giorgi Kvitsaridze, who was reportedly behind the leak of footage showing police abuse of detainees to opposition-leaning TV Pirveli, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison on serious drug charges, in what the family and lawyers allege to be retribution through drug planting and pressure.
Kvitsaridze, 32, reportedly gained access to police internal chats and obtained video files depicting abuse, at least some of which Eter Khatiskatsi, his mother, handed to TV Pirveli months after his arrest on drug charges in December 2025.
Kutaisi City Court Judge Ketevan Tkhelidze delivered the verdict in September and found Kvitsaridze guilty of “purchasing and possessing drugs in an especially large quantity and facilitating their sale.”
According to Otar Rukhadze, the lawyer of Kvitsaridze, the evidence presented in the case consisted primarily of testimony from the police officers who arrested and searched the IT worker. He said that Kvitsaridze “categorically denies” the charge of facilitating the sale of drugs.
“As for the purchase and storage, he says he did use drugs and had a small amount, but according to him, the rest, the large quantity of narcotics, was planted on him by police at the time of his arrest,” he was quoted as saying by RFE/RL’s Georgian bureau.
He further said that Kvitsaridze says that “all of this was orchestrated against him precisely because he obtained footage capturing instances of exceeding official powers by police.”
The case file also contains a forensic report stating that Kvitsaridze’s DNA trace was found on the packaging of the seized drugs. According to Rukhadze, however, Kvitsaridze disputes the finding and says his DNA should have been found only on the one package containing the drugs he possessed for “personal use.”
Meanwhile, TV Pirveli, citing Kvitsaridze’s mother, reported that “police officers” visited him in prison and offered him a plea agreement and early release if he handed over additional video material in his possession. According to the report, Kvitsaridze rejected the offer.
Kvitsaridze’s lawyer and family members say they will appeal the Kutaisi City Court ruling. TV Pirveli said that, if the verdict is upheld by the higher courts, Kvitsaridze’s mother is reportedly considering releasing the remaining files in her possession.
Police Abuse Footage
Kvitsaridze, 32, came to public attention in June after TV Pirveli aired footage showing police officers beating and humiliating detainees at the Kobuleti police department, in Georgia’s Adjara region.
According to media reports, Kvitsaridze had gained access to internal police correspondence or chats and obtained 33 video files. His mother, Eter Khatiskatsi, subsequently handed five of the files to TV Pirveli.
The footage shows at least three different scenes in a closed room, with faces of victims blurred, and three identifiable perpetrators, apparently police officers. The latter are seen insulting their victims and pressuring them with phrases like “tell me quickly,” as victims are heard saying in response, “I don’t know anything,” and “I don’t know who is who.” The recordings also appear to show officers kicking the detainees and striking them with their hands, while one officer is seen pulling the hair of one of the victims.
Shortly after TV Pirveli released a teaser featuring the recordings, the Interior Ministry confirmed that they depicted a 2022 incident and said three former police officers had already been arrested in February 2026.
According to the February 23, 2026, statement by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, accessed on June 13, the agency “has arrested three former employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on charges of exceeding official powers with violence.”
The statement said that in July 2022, three employees of the Interior Ministry’s Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Police Department “were seconded to the Adjara region for the performance of their official duties,” noting: “while working on a criminal case, the above-mentioned individuals brought three citizens to the administrative building of the Kobuleti District Division, where they exceeded their official powers by subjecting them to verbal and physical abuse.”
The agency said that the probe was launched upon the referral from MIA’s General Inspection, and all three suspects were arrested and will be charged with “exceeding official powers with violence.” It is unknown whether the suspects remain in custody.
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