The Tbilisi City Court has imposed a pre-trial measure of restraint against seven young men accused of group violence, extortion, and robbery. The members of the group, linked by media to so-called “pedophile hunters,” have been remanded in pre-trial detention for a period of two months.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia reported the suspects’ detention on October 29, releasing footage of the group’s attacks and searches conducted at their apartments.
“Based on the evidence obtained by law enforcement officers in the criminal case, it was established that one of the defendants formed an organized criminal group, with whose members he developed a premeditated plan to assault citizens, subject them to physical violence, and unlawfully obtain financial gain.
The members of the group created fake female profiles across various social networks. Using these accounts, they contacted men and, under the guise of an acquaintance, arranged meetings at pre-selected locations, subsequently subjecting the individuals who arrived at the agreed-upon sites to group assaults.”
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the defendants dealt with the victims with extreme cruelty, brandishing bladed weapons and sharp objects, subjecting them to verbal and physical abuse, and seizing their money and personal belongings.
The beatings and humiliations were filmed on mobile phones, after which the perpetrators circulated the videos on social networks, continuing to pressure the victims and extort money from them.
During the searches, bladed weapons, masks, mobile phones, and computer equipment were seized as physical evidence. An investigation is underway under Articles 178, 181, and 225 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which carry a penalty of up to 12 years of imprisonment.
The court hearing on the pre-trial restraint measure for the detainees lasted nearly three hours, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Georgian Service. The proceedings were held behind closed doors, attended only by the defendants themselves, their defense attorneys, the prosecutor, and security escorts. The only parent present at the hearing was the father of an underage detainee.
The defense filed a motion requesting a more lenient measure of restraint for the accused; however, the court rejected it.
Prior to the hearing, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty identified two of the detainees. According to journalists, both had prior convictions for theft.
Over the course of several months, the individuals involved in the case published videos on social networks—primarily YouTube and TikTok—where, with their faces concealed by masks, they described and showed how they assaulted people on the streets, in metro stations, and at other public places, verbally abusing and threatening them.
“Judging by the content of these videos, their targets were people whom they considered pedophiles because they had responded to messages sent from fake accounts created in the names of underage girls and showed an interest in them.”
In particular, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, one of the detainees, Giorgi Ustiashvili, published a six-minute video titled “Hunting the Pedo” on his YouTube channel on June 26. In it, a masked young man recounts that he had had a court trial resulting in a suspended sentence, underwent surgery, and was now returning to his past activities—”pedohunting,” meaning “pedophile hunting.”
The same video contains several scenes of violence and a call via Messenger where, in his words, he holds a 36-year-old man from Samtredia accountable for allegedly initiating an intimate conversation with 13-year-old Taso—a fictitious fake account created by Ustiashvili. He would subsequently call from his real account and threaten those who corresponded with the profiles of underage girls or sought to meet with them.
At the same time, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty notes, the content of the published videos does not always make it clear why a particular individual became a target for the masked youths.
