22-year-old detained during rallies against foreign agents bill receives 9-year prison sentence

In a widely anticipated verdict, Judge Zviad Sharadze pronounced the outcome of the case involving Lazare Grigoriadis, a participant in the March 7-9 protests in Tbilisi against the foreign agents bill, at the Tbilisi City Court on Friday.

After a thorough year-long trial, 22-year-old Grigoriadis was sentenced to nine years in prison. Despite attending the verdict remotely, he received an unexpected round of applause from attendees in the session hall. The charges against him included allegations of hurling a Molotov cocktail at law enforcement officers and igniting a patrol car during the demonstrations. These charges carry penalties ranging from seven to 11 years in prison.

Grigoriadis was found guilty under two sections of the Criminal Code, related to the injury of a law enforcement officer in the line of duty and the destruction of property through arson.

In a post-verdict statement to journalists, lawyer Lika Bitadze labeled the verdict as “shameful, unsubstantiated, and illegal.”

Simultaneously with the announcement of Grigoriadis’s sentence, the political landscape witnessed the reintroduction of the controversial foreign influence transparency bill by the ruling Georgian Dream party for parliamentary deliberation -a law that Grigoriadis and thousands protested against in March 2023.

Additionally, Grigoriadis has been handed an extra sentence of 1.5 years for a prior domestic violence incident dating back two years.In response to these developments, Grigoriadis’ family has appealed to the president for a pardon.