Tsotne Japaridze, a civil activist and the founder of the tourist company “Traffic Travel”, who was arrested during a quarrel with Russian tourists in Gudauri, is accused of disorderly conduct and non-compliance with a demand of a law-enforcement officer.
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“I was standing by the gondola with my 12- and 21-year-old children when one of the people there spoke to me in Russian. I told him to speak in English. He asked me why. Because “Fuck Russia”, I answered. This was followed by a verbal and physical confrontation. There were three of them. More than a dozen policemen came and instead of taking them away, all of them caught me. One of them mockingly told me that I was a provocateur. They threw me down and handcuffed me. This was happening in front of my children. They took me to Mtskheta with ski boots,” said Japaridze to Georgian News.
Tsotne Japaridze was detained today under the administrative rule. Court hearing was scheduled on the same day. However, the hearing was postponed until February 15 at the request of Tsotne Japaridze’s lawyer.
Japaridze is going to face a fine of 2000 to 3000 GEL or administrative imprisonment for up to 15 days if found guilty.
According to border crossing statistics by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 1,459,541 Russian citizens crossed the border of Georgia in 2022. Compared to 2021, the increase is 401%. More than 120 thousand Russian citizens remained in the country.
After Russian invasion in Ukraine Russian citizens started intensively entering Georgia. Their number increased especially after September 21 last year, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilization to draft 300,000 men into the war. Several kilometers long queues of Russian citizens were at the Lars checkpoint.
From January 1 to September 9, 2022, ownership rights of 12,335 citizens of Russia were registered on 15,164 buildings and structures throughout Georgia. Of these, 13,262 are residential apartments, on which 11,722 Russian citizens property rights are registered.
