Sachkhere

[4] Prior to the end of serfdom implemented in Kutaisi Governorate from 1865 as part of the Russian Empire's Emancipation reform (1861), many Sachkhere Jews had been serfs on the lands of the Tsereteli family.

[4] In 1878, 9 Georgian Jews were arrested in Sachkhere for the alleged killing of a Christian girl from the neighbouring village of Perevisa in Shorapani uezd.

[5] During the trial, the defence lawyers Petr Aleksandrov, Lev Kupernik and Moisei Kikodze convinced the judges that the accusations against the Jewish men were mostly based on false testimony.

The previous year Aleksandrov had already defended the Russian revolutionary Vera Zasulich at a highly publicised jury trial in St Petersburg, which had also resulted in an acquittal.

Though small, Sachkhere is famous for having produced two Olympic weightlifting champions - Lasha Talakhadze and Giorgi Asanidze.