Figurants in Lekso Lashkarava's death case sentenced to five years in prison

A Tbilisi court has sentenced each of the five figurants in the case of the attack on Lekso Lashkarava, a cameraman of the "TV-Pirveli" Company, after which he died, to five years in prison. The defendants were found guilty of assaulting the journalist and attempting to hamper his work.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 11, 2021, Lashkarava's relatives found him dead. The journalist was beaten up on July 5, 2021, during riots at protest actions against the gay parade in Tbilisi. The death of Lashkarava caused a public outcry; journalists in Georgia demanded the resignation of the government. The UNESCO included Lashkarava into the list of assassinated journalists, but the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs treated it as unjustified.

Five defendants figure in the case – David Kutaladze, Tornike Davlasheridze, Giya Giguashvili, Otar Gelashvili and Akaki Nakashidze, the "News-Georgia" reports.

The court has found two more defendants guilty of attacking Tvaliashvili - Giorgi Magradze and Giorgi Tsaruashvili. They have been sentenced to one year and to three months in prison, respectively, the "Rustavi-2" TV Channel reports.

The court has also completed considering three more cases on the fact of beating journalists on July 5, 2021. The Georgian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has stated that all the six convicts participated in attacks on participants in the counter-action against the "March of Dignity" because of their rejection of LGBT people, as well as obstructed the work of journalists, the "Civil.ge" writes.