IT Worker Who Leaked Kobuleti Police-Abuse Footage Jailed 17 Years on Disputed Drug Charges

Kutaisi City Court sentenced Giorgi Kvitsaridze, 32, to 17 years for "purchasing and possessing drugs in an especially large quantity and facilitating their sale." Kvitsaridze had accessed internal police communications and obtained 33 video files of police abuse of detainees at the Kobuleti police department in Adjara; his mother handed five to opposition broadcaster TV Pirveli in June 2026. His lawyer, Otar Rukhadze, says Kvitsaridze accepts personal drug use but denies facilitating sales, and that the additional quantity was planted after his December 2025 arrest in retaliation for the leaked footage.