Opposition leader condemns psychiatric transfer of activist as ‘Soviet tactic’ amid prosecutors' justification

Opposition leader Nika Gvaramia has criticised the Georgian authorities for transferring imprisoned civil activist Nino Datashvili to a psychiatric facility, calling the move a “disgusting Soviet-style method” used to delegitimise political dissent.

“There is nothing more Soviet, nothing more vulgar and violent than declaring a dissident insane,” Gvaramia, a leader of the Coalition for Change, wrote on Saturday. Drawing a historical parallel, he cited the case of Georgian journalist Nazi Shamanauri, who died in a Soviet psychiatric hospital. “Freedom for Nino! The oligarchy must fall!” he added.

Datashvili, a schoolteacher and outspoken activist, was arrested on 20 June on charges of assaulting a court bailiff during a hearing at Tbilisi City Court. She was formally charged under Article 353^2, part 3 of Georgia’s Criminal Code and remanded into pre-trial detention on 21 June.

The Prosecutor’s Office has responded to the controversy, claiming that the decision to order a psychiatric evaluation was based on medical documentation submitted by Datashvili’s defence team. The documents reportedly described her condition as psycho-emotional liability.

“Given the nature of the information provided by her own lawyers, it was considered appropriate to initiate a psychiatric assessment,” the Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement, adding that such evaluations were standard procedure in similar cases.