An Abkhaz court sentenced a Georgian citizen to prison on espionage charges.
The Supreme Court of Abkhazia found Shalva Khizanishvili guilty of espionage, sentencing him to six years and nine months in prison.
As reported by Caucasian Knot, in October 2025, Georgian citizen Shalva Khizanishvili was detained by Abkhazia's State Security Service in the village of Shashikuara. He was subsequently charged with espionage.
The Abkhazian Security Service stated that another Georgian citizen, Emzar Bagishvili, born in 1968, was detained on March 10, and on March 12, an espionage case was opened against him. Social media users questioned the Abkhazian investigators' claim that the detained Georgian citizen was gathering information about the situation in the region. Most commenters expressed doubt about the investigation's theory. They noted that information about events in a small region can be obtained in various ways, and it is not necessary to send someone to gather information.
Shalva Khizanishvili's sentence was handed down by Judge Marat Avidzba. A Georgian citizen was found guilty of espionage (Article 274 of the Criminal Code of Abkhazia), the press service of the Supreme Court of Abkhazia reported on June 17.
In addition, he was found guilty of illegally acquiring, storing, and carrying firearms, ammunition, and explosive devices (Part 1 of Article 217 of the Criminal Code of Abkhazia).
"Khizanishvili was sentenced to imprisonment for 6 years and 9 months in a strict regime penal colony. The preventive measure against Khizanishvili remains the same until the sentence comes into force - detention," the court said.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that Ksenia Alypova recorded a video message to the residents of Abkhazia apologizing for The fact that she was walking around Gagra wearing a Panama hat with the Georgian flag on it.
Georgia considers Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be Russian-occupied territories after Russia intervened in the armed conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia on August 8, 2008, and then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, according to a "Caucasian Knot" report on the "Five-Day War" of 2008, which also contains details of the armed conflict.