Georgian citizen Tamara Mearakishvili, who is being tried in Tskhinvali for "espionage" for Tbilisi, has announced her readiness to participate in the trial on the charges against her. The activist clarifies that she is prepared to travel to South Ossetia if permitted by its President Alan Gagloev, and if she is provided with a lawyer.
"I will prove my case in court—on one condition: that the trial be open to everyone—journalists and the public. And, of course, that a lawyer be allowed to see me and that I be granted the right to defend myself. If you are confident, if you are right, then take a step forward," Mearakishvili stated.
The KGB of the self-proclaimed republic is threatening to prosecute all of Mearakishvili's accomplices, both within and outside the self-proclaimed republic, under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (on espionage).
As a reminder, on December 24, the Tskhinvali City Court remanded Mearakishvili in pretrial detention. She had previously been charged with espionage for Georgia, which carries a prison sentence of 10 to 20 years. Mearakishvili was later released from pretrial detention and handed over to the Georgian authorities. Prior to her arrest, she had repeatedly criticized the South Ossetian authorities and demanded a meeting with President Alan Gagloev.
Tamara Mearakishvili is a resident of the Akhalgori District of South Ossetia. She was first detained in 2017. After two years of trial, all charges against her were dropped. The girl was accused of slandering the then-ruling United Ossetia party and illegally obtaining South Ossetian citizenship.
The prosecutor's office persecuted the civil activist for six years. According to her, this was the authorities' retaliation for her accusations of corruption and human rights violations in South Ossetia. Despite Tamara's acquittal by all courts, the prosecution only ended after Alan Gagloev assumed the presidency.
August 16, 2025, marked eight years since the South Ossetian authorities confiscated Mearakishvili's passport and refused to return it.
