The Tbilisi City Court has sentenced 21-year-old medical student and activist Giorgi Mindadze to five years in prison for ‘attacking a police officer’.
Mindadze was arrested on 1 December in Mtskheta, when he was visiting a relative along with his mother. He was charged for firing fireworks during an anti-government protest on 29 November 2024 that was sparked after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that the ruling Georgian Dream party would be halting the EU-integration process.
Police officer Shmagi Jachvadze claimed a ‘sparkle from the capsule’ of the firework hit him in his leg.
Mindadze’s verdict was announced in a small hall, which fit up to 25 people, while the hundreds of supporters who came to support Mindadze remained outside in the courtyard. Mindadze’s mother Nani Tsulaia, who also had a birthday that day, was also present.
Before the beginning of the trial, Tsulaia brought a letter from Mindadze sent from prison, as well as a sketch of one of his trials that he made in prison.
‘Whatever decision there will be, it will be good for me, because I found you, I got to know all of you and you got to love me, my combatants. Fight until at least one person remains hopeful to win this fight. You [the reader] be that one person’, Mindadze wrote in his letter addressed to his supporters.
She distributed the letters and sketches to his supporters and family members in the court and called for everyone to be strong and not to cry.
‘The boys [prisoners] need your help. I am standing strong, you should stay strong too. Never in my life would I have such a wonderful birthday having so many people as guests here’, she said ahead of the trial.
Later that day, she told local media that judge Nino Galustashvili gave her a ‘wonderful birthday present’ by sentencing her son to five years in prison. a
On Monday, a new media ban came into force, banning journalists from taking videos, audio recordings, or photos from inside courtrooms, as well as in the halls and courtyards of courthouses. Despite the ban, some video reports still covered clashes with the court bailiff in the court hall on Thursday, as people demanded to move Mindadze’s trial to a larger courtroom. One woman required the assistance of an ambulance as a result of the clashes.
Later, after the verdict was announced, groups of people followed Tsulaia in the courtyard, where many were crying. Some scolded the court bailiffs and police officers who were mobilised at the site, while elsewhere protesters fired black smoke flares.
As Tsulaia was surrounded by people supporting her, police officers and the court bailiff began to remove people from the courtyard using force. One protester was injured in the nose and was hospitalised as a result.
Eventually, Tsulaia convinced people to stop clashing with the police officers and court bailiff, telling them to ‘go to their home, on Rustaveli’, referring to what has been the main site of protests in recent years.
Mariam Nikuradze
