Activist Tamar Mearakishvili Placed in Pretrial Detention in Tskhinvali
A court in occupied Tskhinvali/South Ossetia has ordered two months of pretrial detention for Tamar Mearakishvili, a Georgian citizen and civic activist charged with espionage, Sapa media agency reported.
The hearing reportedly took place behind closed doors on December 24, with journalists and the defendant’s family members barred from attending. The activist rejects the allegations and has declared the hunger strike, Sapa reported. The activist has been charged under Article 276 of Russia’s Criminal Code, which covers espionage and foresees 10 to 20 years in jail when “committed by a foreign national or a stateless person.”
Mearakishvili’s arrest “is a continuation of eight years of persecution and harassment practices against her,” Social Justice Center (SJC), a Georgian human rights group that has represented the activist’s interests, said in a statement on December 23. The group said Tskhinvali de facto authorities have “kept her in total isolation for eight years and left her without documents necessary for travel.”
Tskhinvali reported Mearakishvili’s detention late on December 22, with Georgia’s State Security Service telling Civil.ge that “intensive communication” is underway regarding her case. De facto authorities alleged that Mearakishvili was “suspected of passing information to foreign media outlets affiliated with the Georgian special services” and “the media used the citizen in propaganda activities to promote the interests of Georgia and its Western partners.”
Shortly before her arrest, Mearakishvili criticised local de facto authorities on social media, saying she was “forced to begin a hunger strike,” due to what she described as “the arbitrary actions of the authorities, complete disregard of the civil service law, labor legislation, and violation of my rights.”
Mearakishvili, an outspoken civic activist who has also worked as a journalist for various media outlets in the past, has faced arrest and prosecution before. She was briefly detained in 2017, accused of spreading defamatory information against local de facto authorities, and later also prosecuted on allegations of fabricating official documents by claiming “South Ossetian” citizenship without renouncing Georgian citizenship.
In 2019, however, a court in Akhalgori lifted charges against her.
“Despite constant harassment, Tamar has never ceased to criticise local structures – she publicly exposed them in corruption and right violations, which has become a ground for another detention,” SJC said.
Also Read:
- 05/10/2025 – Sokhumi Detains Georgian National in Gali on ‘Espionage’ Charges
- 09/04/2020 – Amnesty Int’l: Tskhinvali Authorities Must Stop Persecuting Outspoken Journalists
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