Georgian poet and translator Zviad Ratiani sentenced to prison

On Oct. 9, 2025, Tbilisi City Court sentenced renowned Georgian poet and translator Zviad Ratiani to two years in prison Wednesday for “resistance, threat, or violence against a public official” under Article 353 (1) of the Georgian Criminal Code.

Ratiani was detained on June 23, 2025, after slapping a police officer during a protest near the Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi. Members of Georgia’s literary community have rallied behind Ratiani, whose requests for release on bail were repeatedly denied.

PEN International and PEN Georgia released a joint statement on Oct. 10, calling for Ratiani’s immediate release and urging Georgian authorities to uphold his right to a fair trial. “Video footage of the incident shows that the slap caused no harm to the police officer involved, who sustained no injuries,” stated PEN International and PEN Georgia. The organizations condemned what they described as an escalating clampdown on dissent.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mindia Gabadze (@mindiagabadze)

The sentencing came just one week before the Frankfurt Book Fair, where the Georgian Publishers Association planned to present the national stand. The display includes photos of detained cultural figures, including Ratiani.

According to PEN, Ratiani has been repeatedly targeted by both state and nonstate actors in recent years. On Nov. 29, 2024, PEN Georgia documented Ratiani’s brutal beating by police in Tbilisi. He suffered serious injuries, including fractures to his nose and back.

On Dec. 2, 2024, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced him to eight days of administrative detention on charges of “petty hooliganism” and “disobeying lawful police orders” under Articles 166 and 172 of the Administrative Offenses Code of Georgia.

As reported earlier, on Dec. 3–4, Georgian writers and publishers protested at the Writers’ House in support of detained writers and translators, including Zviad Ratiani. As a result, they were attacked by the director’s son, Macharashvili.

After his release, Ratiani was attacked and beaten again by unknown assailants outside his home. He had previously lived in exile in Austria following a violent encounter with police in 2017 that also led to his arrest.

Speaking in court on Oct. 2, 2025, Ratiani said he was denied access to writing materials in prison, unlike other detainees.

Ratiani’s case underscores broader concerns about politically motivated prosecutions in Georgia following last year’s anti-government protests. Peaceful demonstrators and journalists covering the unrest continue to face police violence, including torture and other ill-treatment, carried out with impunity. Observers also report that many legal proceedings have failed to meet fair trial standards.

PEN International and PEN Georgia said the Georgian authorities’ growing assault on independent voices shows no sign of abating. They again called on the government to honor its national and international obligations and to fully uphold fundamental human rights.

.

.

The footage, shot in November 2024, was shared on Facebook on June 23, 2025, and later spread across other social networks with the caption: “Here, dozens of law enforcement officers have used violence against Zviad Ratiani. More than six months have passed, and not a single one of them has been punished — instead, today Zviad has been arrested and now faces four to seven years in prison.”

The literary magazine Arili shared a cover dedicated to Zviad Ratiani (8/2024), calling for support “for one of the best Georgian poets of our time.”

Cover artist: Mamuka Tkeshelashvili

Zviad Ratiani is an award-winning Georgian poet and translator. He has published five poetry collections and worked on translations of English and German poetry. His Georgian translations have introduced readers to the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Paul Celan, Robert Frost, Derek Walcott, and others. His poems have been translated into scores of languages, including English, German, French, Russian, Azerbaijani, Ukrainian, and Latvian. He was awarded the Literary Award SABA in 2010 for best poetry collection (The Negative), and the Literary prize LITERA in 2016, also for best poetry collection (Only You Are Allowed).

Cover photo: Sergi Barisashvili