{"id":19629,"date":"2025-07-02T12:40:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T12:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/?p=19629"},"modified":"2025-07-02T12:55:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T12:55:46","slug":"georgia-release-renowned-poet-and-translator-zviad-ratiani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/07\/02\/georgia-release-renowned-poet-and-translator-zviad-ratiani.html","title":{"rendered":"Georgia: Release renowned poet and translator Zviad Ratiani"},"content":{"rendered":"

PEN Belarus joins the\u00a0statement<\/a> of PEN International about poet and translator Zviad Ratiani.<\/p>\n

\u2018Zviad Ratiani is facing overly harsh criminal punishments on account of his dissenting views. We continue to stand with the brave people of Georgia as the authorities persist in clamping down on fundamental rights at an alarming speed\u2019,\u00a0<\/em>said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International\u2019s Writers in Prison Committee.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 July 2025: The Georgian authorities must release acclaimed poet and translator Zviad Ratiani from pre-trial detention and uphold his right to a fair trial, PEN International and PEN Georgia said today. Ratiani faces up to seven years in prison on grossly disproportionate charges of assaulting a police officer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Zviad\u00a0Ratiani, one of Georgia\u2019s most renowned poet and translator, was\u00a0detained<\/a>\u00a0by police on 23 June 2025 after he slapped a police officer while taking part in a protest outside parliament in Tbilisi. The case comes against the backdrop of a mounting human rights crisis in Georgia and relentless persecution of independent voices, including Ratiani.<\/p>\n

Ratiani has been charged under Article 353(1) of the\u00a0Georgian Criminal Code<\/a>\u00a0(Assault on a police officer, a special penitentiary service employee, or other representative of the government or public institution), which carries between four and seven years in prison. On 25 June 2025, the Tbilisi City Court placed Ratiani in\u00a0pre-trial detention<\/a>\u00a0and sent him to Gldani prison in Tbilisi, where he remained in solitary confinement at the time of writing. His next hearing has been set for 14 August. PEN International and PEN Georgia reviewed video footage of the incident, which showed the slap posed no harm to the police officer involved \u2013 who sustained no injuries. Over 200 members of the literary community have signed a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0by PEN Georgia and the Georgian Book Association in solidarity with Ratiani.<\/p>\n

On 29 November 2024, PEN Georgia\u00a0documented<\/a>\u00a0the brutal beating of Ratiani by police in Tbilisi. Ratiani \u2013 who suffered\u00a0serious injuries<\/a>, including fractures to his nose and back \u2013 was sentenced to eight days of administrative detention by the Tbilisi City Court on 2 December 2024 on alleged charges of petty hooliganism and disobeying lawful police orders (Articles 166 and 172 of the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia). After his release, Ratiani was\u00a0attacked<\/a>\u00a0and beaten again outside his home by unknown individuals. He had previously lived in exile in Austria following a violent incident with the police in 2017, which also led to his\u00a0arrest.<\/p>\n

Pro-European, anti-government protests that erupted in Georgia last year continue to be met with\u00a0police violence<\/a>, including acts of torture and other ill-treatment, with complete\u00a0impunity<\/a>. Journalists reported being deliberately targeted by security forces, with several brutally attacked and requiring hospitalisation. The Georgian authorities have increasingly used hooliganism and assault charges to crack down on peaceful protesters, with human rights groups\u00a0documenting<\/a>\u00a0how legal proceedings have flouted fair trial standards.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Georgian authorities continue to enact with alarming speed\u00a0sweeping<\/a>\u00a0and repressive legislative reforms that drastically restrict the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and to target individuals in the cultural sphere who dare express views at odds with the government\u2019s line. PEN International and PEN Georgia reiterate calls on the Georgian authorities to abide by their national and international obligations and to fully uphold fundamental rights.<\/p>\n

Additional information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born on 5 January 1971, Zviad Ratiani is an\u00a0award-winning<\/a>\u00a0Georgian poet and translator. He has published five poetry collections and worked on translations of English and German poetry, including works by T.S. Eliot, E. Pound, R. Frost, M. Rilke and Paul Celan. 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<\/em>), and the Literary prize LITERA in 2016, also for best poetry collection (Only you are allowed<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Prominent Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli remains\u00a0unjustly held<\/a>\u00a0in pre-trial detention since her arrest in January 2025. She faces up to seven years in prison on grossly disproportionate charges of assaulting a police officer if convicted. Suffering from keratoconus, a degenerative eye condition, she was said to be\u00a0losing her eyesight<\/a>\u00a0in detention. PEN International and PEN Georgia call once again for her release.<\/p>\n

Note to editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For further details contact\u00a0Aur\u00e9lia Dondo,<\/strong>\u00a0Head of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International:\u00a0Aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org<\/a><\/p>\n

For media queries, please contact\u202fSabrina Tucci<\/strong>, Communications and Campaigns Manager at PEN International,\u202f\u202fSabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PEN Belarus joins the\u00a0statement of PEN International about poet and translator Zviad Ratiani. \u2018Zviad Ratiani is facing overly harsh criminal punishments on account of his dissenting views. We continue to stand with the brave people of Georgia as the authorities persist in clamping down on fundamental rights at an alarming speed\u2019,\u00a0said Ma Thida, Chair of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":19630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solidarity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19629"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19632,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19629\/revisions\/19632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}