{"id":47389,"date":"2021-02-20T18:08:49","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T18:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=164913"},"modified":"2021-02-20T18:08:49","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T18:08:49","slug":"russian-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison-for-role-in-alleged-plot-to-kill-georgian-journalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/20\/russian-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison-for-role-in-alleged-plot-to-kill-georgian-journalist\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For Role In Alleged Plot To Kill Georgian Journalist"},"content":{"rendered":"
TBILISI — A court in Georgia has sentenced a Russian citizen to four years in prison for involvement in an alleged plot to kill a Georgian journalist.<\/p>\n
The Tbilisi City Court on February 20 found Magomed Gutsiyev, a native of Russia’s North Caucasus region, guilty of illegal border-crossing, forgery, and the illegal surveillance of journalist Giorgi Gabunia.<\/p>\n
Gutsiyev was arrested by Georgian authorities in June with documents identifying him as Vasambek Bokov.<\/p>\n
Georgia’s Service for State Security (SUS) said at the time that they had arrested a Russian citizen, identified as V.B., who they suspected of planning to kill Gabunia.<\/p>\n
In July 2019, Gabunia crudely insulted Russian President Vladimir Putin live on air amid worsening ties between Georgia and Russia.<\/p>\n
The reporter called Putin a “stinking occupier” and used a string of obscenities to curse the Russian president, as well as Putin’s mother and father — and vowed to defecate on Putin’s grave.<\/p>\n
Gabunia’s controversial comments were condemned by Russian and Georgian authorities.<\/p>\n
The Moscow-backed leader of Russia’s North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, publicly vowed to “punish” Gabunia at the time.<\/p>\n
In recent years, several Kadyrov critics have been killed outside Russia, and many believe that either Kadyrov himself or Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) were behind the apparent assassinations.<\/p>\n
Rights groups say Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya since 2007, uses repressive measures and has created a climate of impunity for security forces in the volatile region.<\/p>\n
They allege Kadyrov is ultimately responsible for the violence and intimidation of political opponents by Chechen authorities, including kidnappings, forced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n