Tbilisi Police Detain Coalition for Change Leader for Spray-Painting GD Banner

Elene Khoshtaria, a leader of Georgia's opposition group Coalition for Change, was taken to a temporary detention facility in the Zahesi district of Tbilisi

Earlier this morning, police detained Khoshtaria outside her home and took her to a police station. Supporters from her party later gathered at the station, The Caspian Post reports citing foreign media.

Her detention is linked to the case of a damaged election banner belonging to Kakha Kaladze, the mayor of Tbilisi and a candidate for the ruling Georgian Dream party. The Interior Ministry has launched an investigation under Article 187 of the criminal code, which covers property damage or destruction.

On September 14, Khoshtaria spray-painted the words “Russian Dream” on a Kaladze campaign poster outside his election headquarters. She posted video of the act on social media, saying it was a gesture of solidarity with opposition activist Megi Diasamidze, who was arrested days earlier for damaging another Kaladze banner.