Georgian opposition politician sentenced to 13 years on terrorism charge

TBILISI, July 10 (Reuters) – A Georgian opposition politician was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday after being convicted on a terrorism charge for attempting to set fire to a court building in the capital last year, the Interpress news agency reported.

The court said Aleko Elisashvili, a founder of the Citizens party, broke into Tbilisi City Court’s chancellery building in November 2025 by smashing a window with a hammer, then poured gasoline inside and attempted to set the building alight.

Elisashvili, who pleaded not guilty and said he was protesting against a government crackdown on the opposition, was convicted of attempted terrorism.

Once among the most democratic and pro-Western of the successor states to emerge from the Soviet Union, Georgia has become increasingly authoritarian since the start of the war in Ukraine, government critics say.

Several opposition politicians are in prison, and Elisashvili’s party is part of a political grouping that is facing an outright ban by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has accused the opposition of trying to foment violent coups.

Ties with the European Union, which Georgia aspires to join, have come under growing strain over concerns of democratic backsliding.

It was not immediately clear if Elisashvili would appeal.

In his final address to the court, he defended his actions.

“I wanted to spit in the face of this government, to show that they cannot oppress us,” he was cited as saying by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Georgian service.

(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou;Writing by Maxim Rodionov;Editing by Helen Popper)