Georgia’s Interior Ministry said police arrested 12 people in Tbilisi and the western Samegrelo region in one day on criminal charges of promoting prostitution and providing lodging for it, adding that 13 such venues were shut down.
The ministry said the detainees are Georgian and Chinese citizens. They face up to four years in prison.
MIA official Tornike Marsagishvili spoke about the operation at an August 27 briefing, saying the Central Criminal Police Department of MIA, together with the Prosecutor General’s Office, carried out “complex investigative actions” that produced audio and video recordings, and during searches seized money allegedly obtained through the facilitation of prostitution.
Marsagishvili said evidence showed “managers and administrators of the facilities regularly supported women involved in prostitution,” providing premises on several central Tbilisi streets “in exchange for a certain amount of cash.” He added that the administrators “assisted women to find clients” and that the facilities’ “main income” came from prostitution.
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