12 convicted by previous gov’t for attempted coup acquitted after 11 years

Twelve individuals convicted by the previous United National Movement government for an attempted armed coup in 2011 were acquitted by Tbilisi court of appeals last week, the Human Rights Centre, a domestic organisation representing the defendants, said on Wednesday. 

The organisation said the individuals, who were granted the status of political prisoners by the Georgian state legislature in 2013 - a year after the current Georgian Dream government took office - had suffered “torture and inhuman treatment” while in custody under UNM authorities. 

In details of the case, the centre said on Georgian independence day on May 26, 2011, the country’s interior ministry had arrested 24 individuals near the Kintsvisi monastery in central Georgia on charges of an attempted armed coup, with the investigation presenting ”no genuine evidence”, including on related weapons, to back the charges. 

The organisation said all 24 individuals convicted in the case the same year had been ill-treated and tortured by former law enforcement officers in attempts of extracting admissions on the case. 

The convicts were released with the status of political prisoners in 2013 under the Georgian Dream authorities, with the country’s prosecutor’s office launching an investigation on the allegedly unlawful arrest, torture and ill-treatment. 

The European court of human rights rendered a judgement on the case in June 2019, with the verdict involving Nikoloz Goguadze, of the imprisoned group, suing the Georgian state.  

In the ECHR ruling, torture and ill-treatment against Goguardze was confirmed, in addition to procedural and other violations in the original investigation conducted under UNM authorities. The court ordered the Georgian state to pay €10,000 in favour of the applicant.