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From a recent street performance by school children to highlight the problem of child marriage. (DF Watch.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–A man who married a 13 year old girl and now has two children by her will not face trial for sexual relations with a minor, prosecutors have decided.

Nadim Paksadze, who is now 21, was under investigation for marrying a minor, which has become a criminal offense under recent legislative amendments.

The case took place in Khulo, a municipality in the southwestern Adjara region of Georgia. He kidnapped Maia Solomonidze when she was 13 and in ninth grade.

Paksadze claimed that neither the parents nor the government had any complaints about the kidnapping or him marrying her.

An investigation was launched three years later, following a legislative amendment which made it a crime to marry an underage person. Two days before the investigation was launched, the couple had their second child.

Paksadze complained that the case brought against him was unlawful because it was three years ago when the marriage still wasn’t a crime.

“No-one was against. The girl also agreed, and we created a family. We didn’t register the marriage, as she was underage,” he told journalists.

Tuesday, the Prosecutor’s Office of Adjara Autonomous Republic made a decision to drop the charges against Paksadze, this way ending the investigation launched on November 18.

“Despite the fact that it was verified that a crime was committed which is punishable with from seven to nine years in jail, the Prosecutor’s Office of Adjara has foreseen the circumstances that Paksadze has created a family with his wife and they have two children. Paksadze is the only breadwinner. He has no criminal record and has positive characteristics,” the statement reads.

Child marriage is a challenge for Georgian society. From 2011 to 2013, over 7,000 girls left school, in most cases because of early marriage or engagement.

More than a week ago groups held performance at the government office to once again draw attention to this issue and help eliminating this practice.