On December 15, 2023, Tbilisi City Court declared a decision regarding the 3 persons arrested at the rally against the sale of Racha forests. Judge Meri Guluashvili terminated proceedings against one activist, and fined two persons GEL 2000. The court declared the activists as lawbreakers for disobeying the police officer's legal request. Before that, on November 29, judge Davit Tsereteli terminated proceedings against six participants in the Racha protests arrested on the same legal grounds and applied a verbal reprimand against two persons.

All persons arrested in connection with the Racha protests were charged by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia with violation of Articles 166 and 173 of the Administrative Offences Code, which pertain to petty hooliganism and disobedience to the lawful request of the police officer.

Representatives of the Democracy Research Institute observed the trial of all the detainees. The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not present evidence of different quality or content against any of the detained persons., The argumentation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was based on the statements of police officers and video recordings in relation to all the eleven persons. Moreover, the video evidence did not show exactly the moment of the arrest of the two activists, which were declared lawbreakers by judge Guluashvili and were fined GEL 2,000. The judge made the decision based only on the statements of the police officers.

Considering that the practice of the hearing of administrative cases is only formal in Georgia and decisions are often made without assessing individual circumstances, the decision made by judge Davit Tsereteli on November 28 created a positive precedent in terms of protecting the right to peaceful assembly and demonstration.

Given that there was no accurate or different evidence about the severity of the offence committed by the persons fined on December 15, it is unclear why judge Meri Guluashvili made a different decision.

The Democracy Research Institute negatively assesses the December 15 decision of the court and hopes that it will be overturned after the appeal, and the two activists who, despite the insufficient and unconvincing evidence, received a different and harsher penalty compared to other participants in the protest, will be given the opportunity to enjoy the right to an independent trial.