Vakjtang Jokhadze jailed for human trafficking in Dublin

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Vakjtang Jokhadze was jailed for four years for trafficking illegal immigrants and money-laundering at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 18 June 2021.

Sophia Grdzelishili received a suspended sentence for human trafficking and possession of false instruments. The judge said she would also have gone to jail but for her role as primary carer for her teenage son.

The report said the divorced couple, who lived together in Dublin, received orders for false documents, including driving licences and EU identity cards, and passed them to someone who made them. They then posted the documents to customers in various European countries.

The court heard that people were not coerced or forced to travel to the State for purposes such as prostitution or forced labour. It heard that asylum seeking and economic migration were the causes of the illegal immigration.

Judge Martin Nolan said the couple were paid considerable sums and described the trafficking as not being of a “sinister variety”. He also said facilitating illegal immigration on that scale was a serious matter.