Tbilisi City Court on September 17 set bail at GEL 5,000 (about USD 1,850) for opposition politician Elene Khoshtaria, giving her 20 days to pay. However, after refusing to attend her court hearing and declining legal defense in protest, she has now vowed not to post bail, urging others not to do so either.
Opposition Droa party leader Elene Khoshtaria was arrested on September 15 for “property damage” after scribbling on a campaign poster of Kakha Kaladze, Georgian Dream’s Tbilisi mayoral candidate, who is seeking a third term. Khoshtaria said her act was in solidarity with student activist Megi Diasamidze, who was released on bail in a similar case but still faces prosecution, while Khoshtaria risks staying in jail if she refuses to post bail.
“Paying bail and leaving this way is not freedom,” Khoshtaria wrote in a letter from custody. “It is a tribute paid to open the prison door, which, of course, I will not pay. Not because it would hurt my dignity, but because I cannot call on you to fight while I myself take part in lies and a farce.”
“My imprisonment is unlawful, just like that of many other free people. But imprisonment is not the end of the struggle – that I truly promise you,” Khoshtaria added, stressing she does “not permit” anyone to post bail on her behalf, calling it a “stab in the heart.”
Khoshtaria’s prosecution is widely seen as politically motivated and disproportionate, as rights groups argue that defacing campaign posters is an administrative offense punishable by a fine rather than a criminal one. Transparency International Georgia called her arrest “another instance of the abuse of the criminal process” and part of an “entrenched practice of selective justice” against government critics.
GD authorities also weighed in on the case, criticizing Dutch Ambassador Meline Arakelian for her alleged meeting with Khoshtaria, whom they described as an “extremist politician” before her arrest.
With Khoshtaria’s arrest, all four leaders of the Coalition for Change alliance are now behind bars. The other three – Zurab Japaridze, Nika Melia, and Nika Gvaramia – are serving month-long prison sentences for refusing to appear before a Georgian Dream parliamentary investigative body that probed alleged crimes of former UNM and other officials.
Update: Elene Khoshtaria Detained Amid Criminal Probe on ‘Damaging’ Kaladze Banners
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