Khoshtaria sentenced to prison for damaging Tbilisi mayor's banner

A Tbilisi court sentenced Elene Khoshtaria, founder of the Droa party, to 1.5 years in prison after finding her guilty of damaging the ruling party's mayoral campaign banner. The defendant refused to make a closing statement in court.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, in September 2025, the Georgian Prosecutor's Office charged Elene Khoshtaria, founder of the Droa party, part of the Coalition for Change, with damaging the Tbilisi mayoral campaign banner under Article 187 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. 1 . Khoshtaria called the trial a farce and refused to exercise her right to a defense, considering legal action against the authorities pointless. The court set her bail, but Khoshtaria refused to post it and remained in custody. The politician forbade her lawyer from participating in the examination of evidence.

The Tbilisi City Court today found Elene Khoshtaria guilty and sentenced her to one year and six months in prison. Accordingly, Khoshtaria, who was remanded in custody on September 15, 2025, will be released from prison in a year, Interpressnews reports.

According to Judge Giorgi Arevadze's decision, "the marker [used to write the inscription] must be destroyed, and the banner must be returned to its rightful owner," the publication writes.

Elene Khoshtaria did not exercise her right to a final statement and did not attend the sentencing, as she had not attended previous hearings. The protocol read by the judge, presented by the prison administration, states that Khoshtaria "does not recognize any branch of government, including the court," the publication states.

Earlier, Khoshtaria's lawyer, Elene Maglakelidze, also told the publication that the politician does not intend to attend today's hearing.

As a reminder, in November 2025, it became known that the Prosecutor General's Office of Georgia had launched an investigation into a criminal case against opposition leaders, including Elene Khoshtaria, for crimes against the state. The charges include sabotage, organizing protests after the 2024 elections, hostile activity against Georgia, and calls for the overthrow of the government.

In February, the Tbilisi City Court accepted the case for consideration. The defendants are former President Mikheil Saakashvili, one of the leaders of the "Coalition for Change" Nika Melia, and six other opposition leaders: Giorgi Vashadze (Strategy Agmashenebeli), Nika Gvaramia (Akhali), Zurab Japaridze (Girchi - More Freedom), Elene Khoshtaria, Mamuka Khazaradze, and Badri Japaridze (Lelo). Three of the defendants, including Khoshtaria, face up to 15 years in prison.

Details of this criminal case and other cases of persecution of opposition figures are collected in the "Caucasian Knot" report "The Main Thing About the Persecution of Protest Participants in Georgia".