Tbilisi City Court judge Davit Tsereteli fully acquitted Varlam Goletiani, the leader of the Save Rioni Gorge movement, and 5 other people who were held administratively responsible together with him. The court found two activists - Gela Ketelauri and Otar Lobzhanidze guilty of an administrative offense of disobedience to the legal request of the policeman and issued them a verbal warning.
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The court will consider the cases of three more activists on November 30.
“None of the policemen who arrested us came to the trial. For 6 hours, we were listening to completely unsubstantiated accusations of other policemen,” said Varlam Goletiani after the meeting.
“The policemen who came to the trial claimed that they were the arresting officers. In fact, they were not the ones who arrested us. In the video of the arrest, the judge also saw that they were not there. These people have to say this because their boss told them to. The other one who was really involved is too lazy to show up, because he is in a higher position and is excused from this. Cops were brought out to tell outright lies. What about that we were held in isolation chambers for 24 hours, who is going to answer for that? - noted the journalist Rati Ratiani of the online platform “Mautskebeli” (chronical).
The police arrested 11 activists of Save Rioni Gorge and a journalist of Mautskebeli on the evening of November 18, in Tbilisi, in front of the building of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture. The Ministry of Internal Affairs charged them with petty hooliganism and police disobedience. The organizers of the protest wanted to set up a tent in the yard of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, but the police did not allow them to. Activists came to Tbilisi from Racha, where they have been holding protests for two months demanding the cancellation of the license issued for the forests of Racha and Kvemo Svaneti.
The arrested activists and the journalist were held in a temporary isolation cell for 24 hours.
In March of last year, the government, in complete secrecy from the population, handed over 104,712 hectares of forest in Racha and Kvemo Svaneti for 49 years to the company of the partner of the sanctioned Russian oligarch, Davit Khidasheli, HG Capra Caucasica LLC. According to the terms of the license, Khidasheli had to organize game farming in these forests. The journalistic investigation by Mountain Stories revealed that the transfer of forests to a person closely tied to the Russian government was done in violation of many laws. The forests transferred to Khidasheli include the areas around 81 Racha and 2 Kvemo Svaneti villages. To fulfill this intention, the authorities also forged documents.
On November 28, the National Environmental Agency canceled the special hunting license issued to the Khidasheli company.
