Tbilisi-based doctor Vazha Gaprindashvili has been released from illegal detention.

Doctor Gaprindashvili was detained by Russia-backed Tskhinvali region’s “state security committee” near the occupation line with occupied Akhalgori Municipality on November 9 and charged under article 322 of the Criminal Code of Russia. On December 20, “court" in occupied Akhalgori sent him to one year and nine months in prison for “illegally crossing the border.” The ruling was widely denounced by Georgian and foreign officials.