In Georgia, lawyers intend to appeal Tsotne Gamsakhurdia's sentence at ECtHR

Lawyers and human rights activists will not accept the sentence imposed by the Tbilisi Court of Appeal on Tsotne Gamsakhurdia and after taking an appeal on the case from the Supreme Court of Georgia they will lodge a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This was reported today by Katie Bekauri, Tsotne Gamsakhurdia's lawyer.

On July 20 the Tbilisi Court of Appeal upheld the sentence of the Tbilisi City Court imposed on Tsotne Gamsakhurdia, a son of the first Georgian president, according to which the convicted must serve in prison for 13 years and 2 months.

"Unfair judgeship of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal, consisting of Georgi Chemiya, Marina Kholuashvili and Mziya Lomtatidze, made another biased decision. Just after a 15-minute discussion they announced the verdict and left court session with a laugh," said Katie Bekauri at the today's press conference.

"Tsotne Gamsakhurdia is being punished for his political views. After Tsotne's arriving in Georgia he is being constantly persecuted, and the yesterday's judicial process was a continuation of that persecution. We will not stop fighting, we have one month, and we will lodge a complaint on the case to the Supreme Court, then – to the Strasbourg Court", the "News-Georgia" quotes Ms Bekauri as saying.

Tsotne Gamsakhurdia was sentenced to nine and a half years on charges of attempted murder of his neighbour David Badzhelidze in domestic quarrel.

Besides, Tsotne Gamsakhurdia was found guilty of giving bribe to a prison official for under-the-table correspondence sending. He is also accused of espionage for Russia and involvement in antiauthority conspiracy. On February 28 the court found Tsotne Gamsakhurdia guilty of bribery and prolonged the sentence to 13 years and two months.