Bella Culley freed from Georgian prison
ReutersPregnant teenager Bella Culley, who had admitted drug trafficking charges in Georgia, has said she felt “happy and relieved” as she was freed from prison.
The 19-year-old from Billingham, Teesside, had initially faced a possible 20 years in jail, but prosecutors made a last-minute change to the terms of a plea bargain.
As she learned of the news in court in Tbilisi, Miss Culley gave her lawyer Malkhaz Salakaia a big hug.
The teenager was detained on 10 May having being arrested at Tbilisi International Airport when 12kg (26lb) of marijuana and 2kg (4.4lb) of hashish were found in her luggage.
Mr Salakaia said prosecutors made the changes to the plea deal and, given her age and pregnancy, decided to free her.
Miss Culley will be given her passport back and be free to leave the country on Monday.
Walking arm-in-arm with her mother Lyanne Kennedy outside court, Miss Culley, who is eight months pregnant, told reporters she did not expect to be freed today.
Prior to that, when she was told she would be freed the teenager broke into a huge smile.
She then hugged her lawyer before the court proceedings went ahead with the judge asking procedural questions, including whether or not Bella Culley pleaded guilty to the charge of trafficking drugs into Georgia.
She answered “yes”.
Throughout the hearing she kept looking at her mother and exchanging smiles, until she was let free from the court and the pair, both crying with happiness, embraced.
ReutersLawyers representing the teenager have been locked in negotiations with judicial authorities in Georgia, with details expected to be released later.
Her family had recently paid £137,000 to reduce her sentence to two years.
Miss Culley previously pleaded guilty to bringing drugs into Georgia, flying from Thailand via Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
But said she was forced to do so by gangsters who tortured her with hot iron.
She had initially gone missing while travelling in Thailand and her lawyer said Georgian police had launched a separate criminal investigation into her coercion allegations.
At a previous hearing, she told the court: “I just wanted to travel.
“I am a good person. I am a student at university. I am a clean person. I don’t do drugs.”
Miss Culley had been held in pre-trial detention since May, first in stark conditions in Georgia’s Rustavi Prison Number Five before being transferred to a “mother and baby” unit.
Mr Salakaia said he planned to appeal to the president of Georgia to pardon her after finalising the plea deal.