The Tbilisi City Court found 44-year-old Tsiskara Tokhosashvili, a resident of the village of Omalo in the Pankisi Gorge, guilty of joining the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) and aiding in terrorist activities and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. Court hearings were closed to the media, as the case is classified.
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According to the Prosecutor's Office, Tsiskara Tokhosashvili joined the Islamic State and actively participated in armed engagements on the territory of Syria. He promoted terrorist activities in support of ISIS.
The defendant was detained at Tbilisi International Airport on December 7, 2022. He was charged under Article 328 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (joining a foreign country's terrorist organization and assisting it in terrorist activities).
Tsiskara Tokhosashvili was known as “Emir Isa” in the Islamic State. He joined the terrorist organization in 2015. At that time, his younger brother, Tzesar Tokhosashvili, also known as “Emir Al Bara Al Shishan,” was already considered an influential person in the Islamic State. Tzesar Tokhosashvili had a close relationship with Tarkhan Batirashvili from Pankisi, also known as “Abu Omar Al Shishan”, who was one of the leaders of the Islamic State.
In 2016, after the fall of ISIS, Tzesar and Tsiskara Tokhosashvili moved from Syria to Turkey, after which it was reported that Tzesar Tokhosashvili along with his wife and four children were killed in the bombing, which was not confirmed.
In 2019, he was arrested in Kyiv, Ukraine, and in 2020, he was extradited to Georgia. Tzesar Tokhosashvili was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
According to the Pankisi community radio, 34 Pankisi people died fighting in Syria in 2012-2019.
