The motives for detaining Gela Khasaia are political. For months and years, Khasaia received threats that he would be detained and spend a very long time in prison due to his social, civic, and political activism, including after his detention when he was told that they had fulfilled their promise and arrested him on criminal grounds,” stated Omar Furtceladze, the lawyer for Gela Khasaia, a member of the “Girchi – More Freedom” party, to journalists.
As the lawyer noted after exiting the temporary detention facility, the charge against Gela Khosaya pertains to causing less serious harm to health committed in a group.
“When we talk about aggravating the charge, we do not mean that a charge was presented and then changed for some reason. Here, we received a notification under an absolutely different article, and the charge has been aggravated compared to what was expected. As of today, the presented charge pertains to causing less serious harm to health committed in a group. However, Gela’s position is clear and unequivocal – his attitude is the same both before and after the charge was presented; he does not believe that this concerns any specific incident. Gela does not comment substantively on any specific case, and there is nothing to comment on. The point is that the motives for his detention, from beginning to end, are political. Before the detention, for months at different times, he received threats due to his political activity and civic activism, including threats of this nature, and after being brought to the police, he actually heard this threat in the cell, as if they had fulfilled the promise and arrested him on criminal grounds,” stated Omar Furtceladze.
Regarding the police officer who allegedly exerted psychological pressure on Khasaia, the lawyer stated that, as Khasaia himself claims, many people were involved in the psychological pressure and threats against him.
“At different times, he recognizes not just one specific person but many people from Rustaveli Avenue, meaning police officers.
One other person is charged alongside Gela Khasaia, an individual unknown to him. Khasaia does not know the detained person, so we learned his name and surname from the case materials. As for Gela’s position, his position is clear and unequivocal. Regardless of which article numbering it will be or how many years the penalty will be, the bottom line is one: the charge against Gela is political persecution, and it cannot have any other basis,” stated Omar Furtceladze.
Regarding the evidence in the case, according to the lawyer, the defense has not had the opportunity to fully review the evidence, but what they have seen includes no neutral evidence, such as camera footage or other information-bearing evidence, in the case at this stage.
“The case contains only and solely the testimonies of these individuals. We will, of course, investigate the identities of these individuals and their interests regarding Gela Khasaia,” stated Omar Furtceladze.
For reference, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, charges have been brought against Gela Khasaia, a member of the “Girchi – More Freedom” party, and another detained individual.
According to the investigative agency, the investigation established that on September 1, in Tbilisi near Tamar Mepe Avenue, the accused committed a group assault causing less serious harm to the victim. Law enforcement detained the accused on September 29. They were charged under the second part of Article 118 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (intentional less serious harm to health committed in a group), which carries a penalty of 4 to 6 years of imprisonment.
Lawyer: Regardless of which article is charged and the penalty, the bottom line is that Gela Khasaia is facing political persecution – the case lacks video evidence and consists only of testimonies from specific individuals
