The Prosecutor’s Office has charged 16 members of radical fascist groups. The information was released by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia.

According to the statement, the detainees carried out group attacks against individuals whose lifestyle, identity, views, or sexual orientation they considered unacceptable. They humiliated them, subjected them to physical and psychological violence, and tortured them.

“The Juvenile Affairs Division of the Tbilisi Prosecutor’s Office has charged 16 individuals with torture of a minor committed by an organized group with prior knowledge, robbery, organizing group violence, and participation in it.

An investigation conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs established that members of a group with ‘fascist–Nazi’ ideology organized violence against persons, including minors, whose lifestyle and identity were unacceptable to them, based on their ideology. Motivated by intolerance, and with the aim of identifying and punishing people with different views, sexual orientation, and identity, members of the group would deliberately select victims in advance and attack them in an organized, group manner, humiliating them, subjecting them to physical and psychological violence, and torturing them. In many cases, they also filmed the acts of violence and distributed the recordings on various social networks and in closed groups.

The detainees have been charged under Article 225, Parts 1 and 2 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (organizing group violence involving violence and participation in it), which carries a sentence of six to nine years of imprisonment; Article 178, Part 2, subparagraph ‘a’, and Part 3, subparagraph ‘a’ (robbery committed by a group by prior agreement causing significant damage), which provides for up to eight years of imprisonment; and Article 144¹ (prima), Part 2, subparagraph ‘z’, and Part 3, subparagraph ‘b’ (torture committed by an organized group against a minor with prior knowledge), which, in accordance with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Code, provides for up to twelve years of imprisonment.

The Prosecutor’s Office will apply to the court within the legally established timeframe with a motion to impose preventive measures on the defendants.

The investigation at the Ministry of Internal Affairs is ongoing in order to identify other individuals involved in the crime,” the statement says.