There is no place for political prisoners in a European Union candidate country, the Member of the European Parliament stated in response to the court’s ruling in the case concerning the damage to an election banner, under which the leader of “Droa,” Elene Khoshtaria, was sentenced.

“Just now, Elene Khoshtaria was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison. The European Parliament expresses full solidarity with the Georgian people and political prisoners, as it reiterated in its March resolution,” the MEP wrote on the social media platform X.

For context, on March 12, the European Parliament adopted a resolution titled “The case of Elene Khoshtaria and political prisoners under the ‘Georgian Dream’ regime.”

The resolution “strongly condemns the politically motivated detention of Elene Khoshtaria and all other individuals targeted for exercising freedom of expression and peaceful protest, and also condemns the systematic criminal prosecution of political opponents, journalists, and activists by the ‘Georgian Dream’ regime.”

For reference, Elene Khoshtaria was found guilty by Tbilisi City Court judge Giorgi Arevadze and sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison.