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All Political Prisoners were Acquitted in the Case of Kintsvisi with Human Rights Center providing Legal Aid

28.09.2022
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As a result of legal aid provided by Human Rights Center, Tbilisi Court of Appeals, twelve persons convicted in Kintsvisi case in 2011 who were recognized as political prisoners by the Parliament of Georgia were acquitted by Tbilisi Court of Appeals. The appellate Court announced the judgment on September 23, 2022.
 
According to the judgments from July 2011, 24 persons convicted in Kintsvisi case were accused of   the action under Article 315(1) of the Criminal Code envisaging the conspiracy to change the constitutional order of Georgia through violence, to overthrow the government or seize the state power. 

Due to the gross and obvious violations in the case, further due to the facts of torture and inhuman treatment, the obvious political motives in the investigation, HRC was the initiator of the proceedings so that the participants in the Kintsvisi case to be granted the status of political prisoners, and in 2013 the Parliament of Georgia adopted the respective resolution.

In the following years, the offenses committed during the legal proceedings in the above case against the persons convicted became even more apparent. In this regard, the judgment by the European Court of Human Rights in the case Nikoloz Goguadze v. Georgia is particularly noteworthy.

In Kintsvisi case, following the petition by HRC to overview the case and render the judgment of acquittal, Tbilisi Court of Appeals rendered the judgment of acquittal against   twelve former political prisoners. In the same 2021, as a result of legal aid provided by HRC, the Department of the Offenses Committed during Legal Proceedings within the Office of Prosecutor General petitioned Tbilisi Court of Appeals to overview the judgments of conviction rendered against twelve persons and pass the judgment of acquittal against them.

Eka Kobesashvili, a lawyer within HRC has been defending the legal interests of persons acquitted by the Court of Appeals. 

The judgment of the Court of Appeals is the result of many years work of HRC, thus taking another major step towards the legal rehabilitation of all persons involved in Kintsvisi case.

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