On 25 May 2018, the Court of Appeals of Georgia overturned the 2007 convictions of 14 unjustly imprisoned political party leaders and activists, among them the prominent co-chair of the 'Samartlianoba’ (Justice) party, Maia Topuria. The 2007 trial of defendants from various opposition parties ("Language, Motherland, Faith", "Conservative-Monarchists", "the 21st Century" together with ‘Samartlianoba' Party) was held behind closed doors at the Tbilisi City Court, at the end of which the accused were sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment, ranging from 4 years to 9 years, for treason in a conspiracy to take over the government by force. The verdict was retained by the Tbilisi Appeals Court soon afterwards, and in 2009 the country’s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal on points of law. At the time, Georgia’s Public Defender’s Office and international observers criticised the trial, and concluded that the 14 were political prisoners.
In 2006, the arrests and trial of Maia Topuria and the 13 others were instituted on the basis of two similarly worded hearsay statements, alleging that they had heard that the 14 had met on a specified date to plot the armed overthrow of the government of Mikheil Saakashvili. Later it was established that the accused had not met as a group as charged and most of them had ironclad alibis with one of the 14 not even being in the country on the date.
Now, the 2007 trial and convictions are ruled unlawful on the grounds of evidence and testimonies of individuals who have confessed to bearing false witness and planting incriminating material. The eleven witnesses for the prosecution included anonymous witnesses 7 of whose evidence was hearsay at best. Their written witness statements presented at trial were similarly worded with identical sentences to the point of bearing the hallmarks of being from the same person. Furthermore, a former security services operative confessed to personally participating in the planting of weapons in one of the defendant’s cellar.
The 14 former political prisoners have been granted the right to seek material and moral compensation: Maia Topuria, Zaza Davitaia, Kakhaber Kantaria, Guram Papukashvili, Teimuraz Zhorzholiani, Ramaz Samnidze, Revaz Bulia, Giorgi Akhobadze, Giorgi Metreveli, Varlam Galdava, Iakob Kvinikadze, Vakhtang Talakhadze, Maia Nikoleishvili and Gela Archuadze.
While the false allegations against the above mentioned individuals were printed and reported in local and international media outlets on many occasions, the May 25th ruling has been largely ignored by both the Georgian and the foreign press.