An unprecedented case for Georgia: the Tbilisi City Court has remanded two 15-year-old teenagers in pre-trial detention. They are accused of plotting armed group violence and an attack on a Tbilisi school. What is known about the case so far, what evidence features in the case files, and how the parties are commenting on the situation — a breakdown of the facts.
Georgian law enforcement authorities have detained two students from different schools in Tbilisi, charging them under two articles of the Criminal Code of Georgia: preparation of an act of violence and participation in it. The charges carry a prison sentence ranging from six to nine years. The court rejected a defense motion to release one of the teenagers on 50,000 GEL bail.
The media platform “Sando Tskaro” was the first to report the detentions, after which the information was officially confirmed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General’s Office. According to investigators, the teenagers met on social media in the spring of 2026. The indictment alleges that they studied the layout of a public school in Tbilisi and intended to plant a dummy explosive device at the entrance to trigger panic, gain unobstructed entry, and use firearms.
However, the defense and the parents of one of the accused categorically dispute the prosecution’s version of events. In an interview with journalists, the father of the 15-year-old student stated that the teenagers had never met in person, did not know each other’s real names or surnames, and communicated exclusively via TikTok and Telegram. According to him, while the chat logs did contain alarming rhetoric, it amounted to teenage bravado and fantasy rather than a genuine plot. He also noted that the teenagers had not targeted any specific school — they simply discussed the first name that appeared in a Google search.
Defense attorney Gia Darchia emphasizes that the case files currently lack the primary piece of evidence: the original social media screenshots or videos that triggered the investigation in the first place. The dossier contains only an operational police report and message fragments from October 7 and 22, the authenticity of which has yet to be determined by forensic analysis. According to the defense, investigators have presented no proof of assigned roles, the presence of a viable explosive device, or a concrete operational plan.
Serious questions have also been raised regarding the items seized during searches. According to the detained boy’s father, the items logged by police included a souvenir toy assault rifle, prop cartridge casings, an air rifle owned by the family since 2022, and a toy tactical vest and mask purchased for Halloween celebrations.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has declined to provide further comment, citing the fact that the case involves minors. The legal proceedings are already being viewed as a precedent: this is the first time Georgia’s law enforcement system has had to investigate a potential school shooting threat coordinated over social media. The central question that investigators and the court must resolve is where the line is drawn between destructive online content, adolescent cyber-communication, and genuine criminal intent. We continue to monitor developments in the case.