Dito Chubinidze Released on GEL 4,000 Bail

Journalist and editor Dito Chubinidze of Asavali-Dasavali has been released on bail. The pretrial detention imposed on him was replaced with a GEL 4,000 bail. The appeals court changed the decision made by Judge Eka Barbakadze of the Tbilisi City Court on October 29.

The trial at the City Court will continue. Chubinidze is charged with sabotage and treason, and faces up to four years in prison.

After his release, Chubinidze said: "Thank God and thank Zaza Khatiashvili, my friend, who fought. We won with my truth. Big thanks to Georgian society, which stood by us so firmly. And apparently, all of this together, along with pressure from abroad, produced this result." According to him, he would not have gone for a plea bargain or a plea agreement, that was ruled out, and the case will go to Strasbourg.

Chubinidze's lawyer Zaza Khatiashvili says: "We demand the punishment of everyone who brought this unlawful charge. This charge must be annulled. Every journalist is under threat." According to the lawyer, the evidence is not a classified document but the journalist's public statements and interviews he recorded.

The journalist is accused of sabotaging the work of the Georgian Delimitation and Demarcation Commission and of treason. According to the Prosecutor's Office, since February 2026 Chubinidze systematically spread false and disinformation claims, using media outlets and social platforms, that the prime minister secretly transferred part of the David Gareja monastery complex to Azerbaijan under an agreement with a neighboring state. The Prosecutor's Office claims that to make this story appear credible, Chubinidze repeatedly linked the death of his respondent, Lazare Jorbenadze, to a murder committed out of revenge.

Editor-in-chief of Asavali-Dasavali Lasha Nadareishvili described Chubinidze's arrest as revenge and called on the authorities to arrest him as well. According to him, the journalist was charged for asking questions about the disputed David Gareja territories and for recording an interview with Lazare Jorbenadze, who accused the government of giving away land.