Civil activists Tatia Mekvabishvili and Ana Shubitidze have been sentenced to two days in jail for blocking a sidewalk. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, they violated the law during a protest outside the Georgian parliament building on December 17 last year.
On May 19, Nanuka Zhorzholiani—a journalist and founder of the Nanuka charity foundation—was sentenced to three days in jail under the same charge. According to media reports, verdicts against other activists are expected in connection with the December 17 sidewalk-blocking case.
Meanwhile, the Tbilisi City Court earlier dismissed the case against Mariam Dzidzaria, a photojournalist for Netgazeti and a student at Caucasus University, whom the Ministry of Internal Affairs had also accused of “artificial blocking of the road.” The journalist herself maintained that she was covering the protest and performing her professional duties while wearing a “PRESS” badge.
