British 'drug mule' Bella Culley could be freed from Georgian jail - if family pay huge fine
A British teenager on trial for drug smuggling in Georgia has been told she could be freed from prison - if her family coughs up a large fine.
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Bella Culley, 19, from Billingham, Teesside, appeared at Tbilisi City Court on June 1 and pleaded not guilty to charges of possession and trafficking a large amount of illegal drugs.
Georgia police say the teenager, who is pregnant, was found with large quantities of marijuana and hashish in her travel bag at Tbilisi International Airport.
Culley could face up to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment if she is found guilty.
The Tbilisi City Court heard defence and prosecution teams were negotiating the terms of a bargain which would see the teenager freed if she pays a sum of money with "many zeros", understood to be in Georgian Lari.
Read more: Thai police dispute Bella Culley’s drug torture claims as new CCTV footage released
Read more: Brit 'drug mule' Bella Culley 'branded with hot iron and forced into trafficking', lawyer says
Judge Giorgi Gelashvili ruled that Culley will remain in custody until the next hearing on 9 October unless an agreement is reached sooner.
Culley's lawyer has claimed she was threatened with a hot iron to force her into trafficking 12kg of marijuana and 2kg of hashish.
In court previously, Culley said: “I didn’t want to do this. I was forced by torture. I just wanted to travel. I study at the university… to become a nurse.
"All I wanted to do was to travel and this happened to me. I’m clean - I had nothing in my blood test. I wanted to make my family proud.”
However, Lieutenant General Choengron Rimpadee argued "there is absolutely no factual basis to her claims" while presenting airport CCTV footage showing Bella walking through passport control at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Mr Rimpadee said: "There is no evidence whatsoever that any immigration or police officers forced or threatened the suspect to smuggle drugs out of the country."