On 29 May, Judge Nino Galustashvili of Tbilisi City Court sentenced 61-year-old activist Zurab Menteshashvili to nine months of imprisonment in a criminal case initiated over the blocking of a roadway. As Menteshashvili has been in detention since 1 November of last year, he is expected to leave prison on 1 August, in two months.

Zurab Menteshashvili was detained on 31 October in Tbilisi, on Rustaveli Avenue, for blocking the street. Since he had previously been held administratively liable on the same grounds, the Ministry of Internal Affairs initiated a criminal case against him. He is the first and, so far, the sole activist against whom a case has been initiated under the Criminal Code for blocking a roadway.

He was subjected to the law adopted by “Georgian Dream” under an expedited procedure, according to which the “artificial blocking” of a roadway or being present at a rally “wearing a face mask” is punishable by up to 15 days of detention, and, in the event of repetition, by imprisonment for up to one year.