Opposition leader Khoshtaria refuses legal defence and court appearance, calls detention case ‘farce’

Elene Khoshtaria, one of the leaders of the opposition Coalition for Change, on Tuesday said that she was refusing legal defence and would not appear in court, urging supporters not to attend her hearings.

“I refuse legal defence, I refuse to appear in court, and I ask everyone not to trouble themselves or go,” Khoshtaria wrote on social media, calling the proceedings against her a political spectacle.

She described her experience in detention as proof of a staged process. “Today in the detention center, a ‘pleasant-looking man’ came in - well-groomed, clean-shaven. Within minutes, he turned into a cog in the Russian system, seriously reading out charges that sounded absurd,” she said, stressing that she would not participate in what she considers a farce.

Khoshtaria said even minimal involvement would mean legitimising “a system of lies.” She thanked her lawyer, Shota Tutberidze, for supporting her decision to boycott the process.

Georgian prosecutors on Monday charged Khoshtaria with deliberately damaging property after banners belonging to the ruling Georgian Dream party were vandalised in Tbilisi.