Bella Culley Released After Plea Deal

Bella Culley, 19 and about eight months pregnant, was released from a Georgian prison on Nov. 3 after accepting a plea deal that credited roughly six months she had already served as her sentence. She was arrested at Tbilisi International Airport in May after police found about 12 kg of marijuana and 2 kg of hashish in her luggage and initially faced up to 20 years in prison. Her family paid a six‑figure fine as part of the plea — reported variously as €160,000, 500,000 lari (about $184,000–$320,000) or roughly £137,000 — and prosecutors said they took into account her age, pregnancy and good behaviour. Culley and her lawyers say she was coerced and tortured in Thailand and forced to traffic the drugs; she initially pleaded not guilty but later accepted the plea agreement. She has been moved to a mother-and-baby unit, will have her passport returned and is expected to leave Georgia to return to the UK.