Joining illegal military groups abroad will become punishable in Georgia

Georgian citizens will be sent to prison if they join or train with illegal military groups abroad, officials say.

Georgia's Minister of Justice Thea Tsulukiani yesterday said new new amendment to Georgia's Criminal Code would affect all people who joined illegal groups in countries such as Syria, Iraq or elsewhere.

Tsulukiani said she remembered that 18 months ago she visited the Pankisi Gorge, a valley mainly inhabited by the Kist sub-ethnos in northeastern Georgia that bordered the Chechnyan republic of the Russian Federation, where the local population expressed their concern that part of their youth was becoming "interested in terrorism”.

It has been reported that a growing number of young men from the Pankisi Valley have recently left the region to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The gorge was also home to Tarkhan Batirashvili - also known as Abu Omar al-Shishani, a military leader of ISIS.

"That is why long before the terrorist attack in France, on December 18 at a Governmental meeting, the Ministry of Internal Affairs with our collaboration sent a new initiative to Parliament," the Justice Minister said.

"In particular, a new article will be included to Article 312 of the Criminal Code, which stated that any kind of participation in illegal groups abroad, including recruitment, training or calling for joining will be punished by imprisonment."

When asked whether Ukrainian groups were also included in the new law, Tsulukiani answered: "if the formation [of the group] was illegal, of course it would be included.”