23:59, 16 October 2019

Tskhinvali City Court: activist Tamara Mearakishvili not guilty

Tamara Mearakishvili. Screenshot of the video by the "Caucasian Knot" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhDZ-8EhtQ0

The Tskhinvali City Court has fully acquitted Tamara Mearakishvili. The activist intends to seek her rehabilitation and punishment of law enforcers for prosecuting her unlawfully.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in July, a court found Tamara Mearakishvili not guilty of slander, forgery of documents, and illegal acquisition of the South-Ossetian citizenship. The Prosecutor's Office appealed against the court's decision and requested to sentence Tamara Mearakishvili to six years of imprisonment. Prosecution witnesses confessed that they signed blank papers or documents in a language they did not understand, the defendant noted.

The case on slander was instituted against Tamara Mearakishvili after a complaint filed by Spartak Dryaev, a member of the "United Ossetia" Party. He was not satisfied with a Tamara Mearakishvili's interview posted on the "Echo of the Caucasus" on April 29, 2017. In her interview, the activist criticized supporters of the president of the republic and said that they were seeking to occupy attractive positions. The human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) found the prosecution of Tamara Mearakishvili a flagrant violation of the right to freedom of expression.

Ikramzhan Ramatov, an advocate of Tamara Mearakishvili, noted that the accusations of slander were initially unfounded.

Tamara Mearakishvili has noted that she was very tired of the proceedings that last more than two years. The activist believes the case was of political nature.

"The authorities believe that I'm throwing mud on officials and spreading lies in conversations with reporters. They even tried to intimidate me," Tamara Mearakishvili said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 16, 2019 at 06:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Oleg Krasnov

Source: CK correspondent