A pregnant 19-year-old British woman previously jailed in Georgia for drug smuggling is set to walk free from prison, where she was reportedly forced to toast bread using a candle.
Bella Culley, from Billingham in northeast England, had been behind bars for six months after Georgian border police found 12kg (26lb) of marijuana and 2kg (4.4lb) of hashish in her luggage upon arrival in Tbilisi from Thailand back in May.
Facing a total sentence of two years and a massive fine, the teen's fate took a sudden turn on Monday (November 3) morning when a last-minute plea bargain was struck moments before a scheduled final hearing. Judge Giorgi Gelashvili confirmed the release in court, as Bella was told she would walk free.
“She was laughing and crying at the same time like she couldn’t believe it,” an onlooker said, per The Sun. “She’s signing papers now.”
Bella Culley will be released from prison. Credit: Facebook
Free to give birth at home
Bella had pleaded guilty to smuggling charges, but claimed she was forced into acting as a mule by a Bangkok gang that threatened her family, tortured her with a hot iron, and forced her to watch beheading videos.
Though her family raised £140,000 ($183K) of a £215,000 ($282k) fine, a judge last week sentenced her to 18 more months in prison after the full amount wasn’t paid. But her lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, requested a final hearing to argue for bail due to her advanced pregnancy.
“She pleaded guilty, fully cooperated with the investigation, and the plea bargain has just been reached,” Salakaia told the court. “So we would like to ask the judge to release her on bail, given her advanced pregnancy.”
Salakaia also revealed the family would have sought a presidential pardon from Georgian leader Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former Manchester City footballer, if the plea had been rejected.
Now, Bella is expected to return home within days and give birth before Christmas. “I am so happy, so happy, I know I don’t look like it, but so happy," her mother, Lyanne Kennedy, 44, broke down outside the courtroom. "We’ll need to get her passport and then we leave, either today or tomorrow.”
Life inside a Georgian prison
The 19-year-old's time in the notorious Women’s Penitentiary No.5 has been described as harrowing, with the teenager surviving on pasta boiled in a kettle and bread toasted over a candle, The Independent reported.
Lyanne revealed her daughter was given just one hour of fresh air a day, forced to use a hole in the floor as a toilet, and was only recently moved to a women's and children’s unit, where she had access to a kitchen and proper hygiene.
“She now gets two hours out for walking, she can use the communal kitchen, has a shower in her room and a proper toilet,” Lyanne told the BBC. “They all cook for each other - Bella has been making eggy bread and cheese toasties, and salt and pepper chicken.”
Georgia’s treatment of prisoners has drawn criticism from multiple human rights organizations. A report by the Georgian ombudsman highlighted inhumane intake procedures at Women’s Penitentiary No.5, including forced naked inspections and squatting, poor hygiene, and a lack of basic necessities.
And in September, Georgian media published what they said was an open letter from Anastasia Zinovkina, a Russian political activist jailed on drug possession charges, who described the prison’s sanitary conditions as “appalling” and “horrific.”
"One single bar of soap is used to wash hair, body, socks, underwear, and dishes," she penned. "If the soap runs out before the guards decide to give out a new one (which happens once every three months), then they simply don't wash."
"Toilet paper is provided once monthly, and only to those with no money on their prison account. Showering is permitted only twice weekly - on Wednesdays and Sundays - for 15 minutes.
"The girls who don't have slippers bathe barefoot or use shared slippers. They get fungal infections and pass them to each other," she added.
Additionally, a report from Human Rights Watch highlighted severe overcrowding in Georgia’s prisons, warning that such conditions could endanger both inmates and staff.
With her release now confirmed, Bella and her family are preparing to leave Georgia this week and begin the journey back to the UK.