On August 6, Judge Romeo Tkeshelashvili acquitted Giorgi Akhobadze, a doctor and prisoner of conscience charged with drug-related offenses, and ordered his immediate release from the courtroom.
Akhobadze was accused of purchasing and possessing a particularly large quantity of narcotics — a charge that carried a sentence of 8 to 20 years, or even life imprisonment. His verdict had been expected since July 22, but the judge postponed the announcement multiple times: first to July 25, then to July 28, before cancelling it altogether and delaying the decision indefinitely after going “into deliberation.”
On August 5, the court informed Akhobadze’s lawyer that the verdict would be announced on August 6 — exactly two hours after another Batumi City Court judge sentenced Mzia Amaglobeli, the founder of Netgazeti and Batumelebi, to two years in prison.
As he testified, Akhobadze had sustained a spinal injury before the protests, which is why he avoided intense situations during the rallies. A doctor by profession, he was also the sole caregiver for his bedridden mother, who had suffered a stroke — “the main patient of my life,” as he described her — and who passed away one month after his arrest.
“I had my mother to care for, and if I too became someone in need of care, I had no one to turn to,” he said.
Giorgi Akhobadze became a highly active and vocal participant in the protest movement against the ruling Georgian Dream party following the introduction of the so-called Russian Law. “Before that, my activism was no more troubling to the regime than a mosquito bite. But after the Russian Law was introduced, everything changed — they took an interest in me,” Akhobadze said in court during his July 22 testimony.
Since the introduction of the so-called Russian Law, he gained a large following on social media, where he regularly shared information and advice — including on resistance and self-defence from chemicals used by the police.
In both his testimony and his final statement, Akhobadze said he had anticipated for months — and was even certain — that authorities would either plant drugs or weapons on him. He had addressed these concerns in multiple video messages posted on social media. According to Akhobadze, the regime and its enablers had been laying the groundwork for his arrest by planting comments under his posts for months, crafting a narrative to justify a future accusation.
