Foreign national expelled from Georgia after using acoustic weapon in Tbilisi tunnel

Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has expelled a foreign national who fired an acoustic weapon several times in a tunnel near Heroes Square in the country’s capital city of Tbilisi.

The Ministry said officers from the Migration Department and the Tbilisi Police Department jointly detained an Israeli citizen, born in 2005, under the Law of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons.

Law enforcement authorities established that the Israeli national, who was in Georgia as a tourist, fired several shots from an acoustic weapon while driving through a tunnel near Heroes Square on December 29. Police officers seized the acoustic weapon as material evidence.

As a result of the incident, the Tbilisi City Court, by a ruling dated December 30, found the individual guilty of an administrative offence under Article 173 of Georgia’s Code of Administrative Offences. The court imposed a fine of ₾4,000 ($1487.17), ordered his expulsion from Georgia and banned him from entering the country for a period of three years.

The Ministry noted that recent amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons have improved mechanisms for expelling both illegally and legally staying foreign nationals, providing a clear legal basis for deportation when relevant grounds exist.

The expulsion was carried out by the Migration Department and the individual was formally barred from re-entering Georgia for the period stipulated by law, the Ministry added.