The opposition and the European Union say Georgian Dream is steering Tbilisi towards Kremlin-styled authoritarianism and the Caucasian country has faced an unprecedented democracy crisis since a disputed election last year.
Ratiani -- whose modernist poetry and acclaimed translations have earned him recognition as Georgia’s pre-eminent poet -- was charged with assaulting a police officer. He faces up to seven years in prison.
He spent a week in prison despite sustaining serious injuries.
“The Georgian Dream regime has imprisoned the whole of Georgia. We are fighting for the country’s liberation,“ Vashadze said before the verdict.
Georgia handed similar sentences to three other opposition figures a day earlier on the same charge -- refusing to testify before a parliamentary commission investigating alleged abuses under jailed former president Mikheil Saakashvili.
Opposition leaders have dismissed the commission as illegitimate and accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of using it to silence dissent.
Georgia has been in political turmoil since Georgian Dream claimed victory in the October vote -- results the opposition disputes.
Mass protests erupted, growing more intense after the government froze EU membership talks until 2028.
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