Activist says police ordered her to strip during search and seized her personal belongings

Activist Nancy Woland (who also goes by Kristina Botkoveli) stated that during a search of her home on 1 February, female police officers  ordered her to strip completely. According to Woland, the police also took her personal equipment and physically assaulted her mother.

Woland is a co-founder of Daitove, a Facebook group launched during the foreign agent law protests in 2024, which is used to help people from outside of Tbilisi to participate in the protests in the city.

Last week, police searched Woland’s home along with those of two other activists.

The Interior Ministry told local media that they carried out searches at ‘various locations’ across Tbilisi based on a judge’s ruling under two criminal code articles: organising, leading, or participating in group violence, and organising or actively participating in group action that violates public order.

Woland described the strip search as a form of psychological abuse, and added a male officer who was also participated in the search of her home, ‘Come with me to the station, I don’t want to do ugly things’.

Woland’s lawyer, Shota Tutberidze, was live-streaming the search on Facebook, and the video showed Woland needed an ambulance. She later told the media that she had a panic attack upon seeing two police officers throw her mother to the ground while trying to take her phone, which her mother was using to record the incident.

This was the second time Woland's home had been searched since December 2024.

As an artist, she mentioned that her equipment, vital for her financial stability, was taken once again, including a computer containing her artwork and another project she is currently working on. Additionally, the police seized a home security camera that Woland uses to monitor her pets when she was away and which contained personal footage.

The activist plans to take a short break from the ongoing processes ‘in order to regain composure’. However, she emphasised that this does not mean she will stop fighting.

‘We all need to share responsibility; everyone must have a role in these processes, and I have done enough and maximum at every stage. Now, a criminal case has been initiated against me, and this injustice is driving me crazy’, Woland stated.

The police searched the activists’ homes just one day before the planned protest blockade at the entrance to Tbilisi. In addition to Woland, they also raided the home of another Daitove co-founder, Ilia Ghlonti, who was taken to the police station but released the same day.

Another activist, Isako Devidze, whose home was also searched, was detained for several days on charges of disobeying police orders. He was fined ₾3,500 ($1,252) by the court on Wednesday.

Since Georgia’s EU U-turn, police have detained hundreds of protesters and activists, including dozens on criminal charges. According to local civil society organisations and the Public Defender’s Office, the vast majority of detainees have experienced violence at the hands of the police.