Tbilisi City Court found Aleko Elisashvili, one of the leaders of the “Strong Georgia” coalition, guilty of “persecution committed using violence or threats of violence” and sentenced him to imprisonment as a preventive measure.

The prosecution had requested the arrest of politician by stating he could “commit further crimes”, with the prosecutor raising concerns that Elisashvili “might influence witnesses”.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Aleko Elisashvili had “verbally and physically assaulted” Ali Babayev, Chairman of the National Congress of Georgian Azerbaijanis / member of the Georgian Dream, “because of his political affiliations”, on December, 2.

As the agency added, Babayev had described the incident, saying he had to be admitted to a clinic for treatment following the alleged assault.

Aleko Elisashvili was detained on December, 4.