There were such childish mistakes made that I don’t want to call those in uniforms by the name they were known by in the ‘90s – in reality, what they did, even the corrupt officials from Shevardnadze’s time, who worked for $100, did with higher quality, – stated Giorgi Akhobadze, who was accused of a drug-related crime, to journalists after Judge Romeo Tkheshelashvili declared him not guilty and released him from the courtroom.

As Akhobadze noted, the charge brought against him, which carried a penalty of 8 to 20 years of imprisonment, was completely inadequate.

“When the judge started listing the evidence, I thought he might be maintaining his prestige until the verdict. The most significant signal was the 25-minute delay in entering the courtroom. I thought the hearing might be postponed again or something else was happening.

The judge emphasized that this was due to insufficient evidence. I’ll go further and say that they may refine their case ‘fabrication’ after talking to me, so if I end up here again with the same charge next time, we’ll have to fight harder.

They could have done better! In reality, they rushed, probably needing to create some effect of mass arrests.

These eight or nine months were silently imposed on me – they put me in pre-trial detention,” Giorgi Akhobadze stated.