Police seize 84 cannabis seedlings from Girchi party office in Tbilisi
Georgian Interior Ministry officers searched the Tbilisi office of the libertarian Girchi party on 11 January 2017 and seized 84 cannabis seedlings planted in paper cups at a New Year's Eve decriminalisation stunt. No one was detained, and investigators later declined to prosecute.
Representatives of Georgia’s Interior Ministry came to search the Tbilisi office of the opposition New Political Centre, known as Girchi, on 11 January 2017, eleven days after party activists had planted cannabis in 84 pots at a New Year’s Eve media event calling for drug decriminalisation.[1][2]The officers produced a court resolution permitting the search, which was opened under Article 265 of the criminal code on illicit growing of narcotic plants.[2]Three detectives spent more than four hours collecting the paper cups holding the seedlings and carried them out of the office.[1]No one was detained during the search.[1]
No prosecution
Police had said the activists faced up to 12 years in prison, and party leader Zurab Japaridze called the planting an act of civil disobedience.[1][2]On 24 February the Interior Ministry said investigators had decided the tiny seedlings did not contain enough of the forbidden narcotic substance to merit criminal prosecution, so no party member was charged.[3]
Photos and video
Detectives carry paper cups of cannabis seedlings out of the Girchi party office as supporters look onPhoto details
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