Georgia is running Moscow’s playbook word-for-word: turn Facebook posts into "crimes" and throw journalists behind bars, Salome Zourabichvili, the fifth President of Georgia, writes on social media.

"Vakho Sanaia’s 30-day sentence is an authoritarian regime’s desperate measure to comfort itself and survive," states Zourabichvili.

Journalist Vakho Sanaia has been sentenced to 30 days of administrative detention. The decision was handed down by Judge Tornike Kochkiani.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs accuses Sanaia of insulting political officials in three posts published on social media.