Elene Khoshtaria and other opposition leaders face even harsher sentences - Helsinki Commission

The US Helsinki Commission has issued a statement saying that the Georgian Dream party is using the courts as a tool to silence anyone who challenges its power.

“Elene Khoshtaria, the leader of the opposition party Droa, was sentenced to one year and six months in prison after being found guilty of “damaging property” for affixing the Russian Dream logo to Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze’s campaign banner last September.

Khoshtaria and other opposition leaders now face the possibility of even harsher sentences – between seven and 15 years in prison – for alleged “crimes against the state,” the statement said.