Russian citizens Anton Chechin, Anastasia Zinovkina and Artiom Gribul – just like dozens of other protest participants – have become victims of a justice system captured, politicised and biased by Bidzina Ivanishvili. Any impartial and objective court would have acquitted these three people and freed them from the courtroom, several non-governmental organisations declare in a joint statement.

The NGOs stress that the judges relied solely on the testimony of police officers and interpreters whose objectivity was challenged by the defence:

• the translation bureau that hired the interpreters is financially tied to the Interior Ministry;
• the interpreters themselves had close personal relations with the police witnesses.

The verdicts of Tbilisi City Court – which sentenced the three pro-European demonstrators to 8.5 years for “acquisition and possession” of narcotic substances – are a clear manifestation of Russian influence and politicised justice.

Even in Georgia, Russian citizens have fallen victim to Ivanishvili’s hijacked and perverted courts. Any unbiased court would have acquitted them on the spot.

Planting drugs is a long-standing, deeply rooted harmful practice inside the Interior Ministry. Evidence includes:

• 7 cases taken to the European Court of Human Rights, where Strasbourg found Georgia in breach of multiple articles of the Convention;
• the Constitutional Court ruling in the Keburia case, which states that a person cannot be convicted solely on police testimony and search protocols drafted by the same officers; neutral evidence (independent witnesses and video recordings) is mandatory.

Yet:

• Judge Jvebe Nachkebia (Chechin’s case) and Judge Nino Galustashvili (Zinovkina and Gribul) ignored the standards set by Strasbourg and Georgia’s own Constitutional Court.
• They accepted without question police claims that “video recording was impossible” – when in reality officers deliberately avoided filming, in line with the usual harmful practice.
• The interpreter became the only distinguishing feature between Georgian and Russian defendants: no interpreter was needed in Georgian cases, but in the Russians’ trials their testimony became the main pillar of the guilty verdict.

Final conclusion of the NGOs: Chechin, Zinovkina and Gribul – like dozens of other protesters – are victims of Ivanishvili’s captured, politicised and biased justice. Their convictions violate Constitutional Court rulings and the principles of fair trial and equality before the law.

Background of the three Russians

• Anton Chechin took part in anti-Putin protests in Russia, including demonstrations against the war in Ukraine. A supporter of Alexei Navalny (killed in prison), he was repeatedly detained in Russia. Together with 22 others he won a case at the European Court of Human Rights; Russia was ordered to pay him compensation.
• Anastasia Zinovkina and Artyom Gribul are also opponents of Putin’s regime and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

There is therefore well-founded suspicion that the pro-Russian Georgian regime used these convictions to send another fawning message to Putin – or simply carried out an order from Moscow.

Ill-treatment – zero reaction

• Anton Chechin stated that police beat him during arrest, search and at the station. He has a brain tumour of unknown origin requiring surgery; the state has taken no adequate measures.
• Anastasia Zinovkina told the court that officer Irakli Mukhatgverdi touched her body during the search (which she said “was not a search”) and threatened her with rape.
• Artyom Gribul was threatened with fists.
• Zinovkina also suffered inhuman treatment by prison staff, prompting Gribul to declare a hunger strike.

No authority has reacted to any of these allegations, the NGOs conclude.