Georgian civil activist living in occupied Akhalgori faces fourth charge

Georgian civil activist Tamar Mearakishvili, who lives in the occupied Akhalgori district  of breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, says that she has been charged for the fourth time by the so-called prosecutor’s office of Tskhinvali, which is “psychological pressure on her to leave the district.”

She says that she has not been informed yet about the content of the new charge.

Mearakishvili says that the de facto leadership of Tskhinvali aims to force her to leave her home district as she is critical of the activities of the de facto authorities.

She says that since August 2017 she has been under practical domestic arrest, as all her documents have been taken away by the de facto law enforcement agencies of Tskhinvali.

Mearakishvili wrote on Facebook that she won the first trials in three cases against her and the court returned all the cases to the de facto prosecutor’s office to “improve shortcomings.”

She has been charged for blackmailing the ruling party of occupied Tskhinvali, for illegally receiving the “citizenship of South Ossetia” and for the usage of fake documents.

Mearakishvili is asking for help from the central Georgian government.

The Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has also urged the Georgian Dream leadership to show interest in the civil activist and ease her social and psychological condition.

Mearakishvili says that she lives with the help of friends and kind people as currently she has no opportunity to leave the region because of her confiscated identity documents.