Tbilisi City Court has sentenced Saba Skhvitaridze, who was detained in the early phase of the ongoing anti-government protests, to two years in prison on reclassified charges. He was initially accused of injuring a police officer, which Skhvitaridze denied, saying instead that he himself was tortured at the police station.
The verdict was announced on Wednesday by Judge Jvebe Nachkebia.
The initial criminal charge brought against him involved harming a police officer’s health while on duty, which carries a sentence of seven to 11 years in prison. However, the prosecutors reclassified it in July as intentional infliction of less serious bodily harm, which, in addition to imprisonment, also provides for house arrest and community service.
Nevertheless, Nachkebia chose the harshest option — imprisonment.
In his closing statement, Skhvitaridze thanked his supporters.
‘I am strongest when my people stand behind me. You give me the strength to fight, the strength to be relentless, even if I have to fight from behind bars […] I do not intend to kneel before the regime, so please stay strong […] decisions are not made in this building [the court]’, Skhvitaridze said, as quoted by RFE/RL.
Skhvitaridze’s case is one of more than 50 criminal proceedings launched against those detained during the ongoing protests which escalated on 28 November 2024 after the ruling Georgian Dream party suspended Georgia’s bid for EU membership. Several protesters have already been convicted and sentenced to years in prison.
Skhvitaridze’s case
Skhvitaridze, a member of the opposition Ahali party, has a background in civil society and student activism. He has actively participated in demonstrations both against the controversial foreign agent laws and Georgia’s EU U-turn.
His detention is linked to the developments on 4 December, when opposition parties were holding a meeting at the Courtyard Marriott hotel in Tbilisi’s central Liberty Square. Skhvitaridze himself also participated in the meeting.
At the same time as the meeting, masked individuals dressed in black were mobilised near the hotel. They did not reveal their identities. After the opposition gathering, one of these individuals was confronted by a woman attempting to remove his mask, during which he struck her, leading to a scuffle on the spot.
According to Transparency International (TI) Georgia’s report, the masked individual in question was police officer Mirian Kavtaradze, whose ‘injury’ later became the basis for the charges against Skhvitaridze.
Skhvitaridze later explained that he had confronted the masked individual in response to the attack on the woman and insults directed at bystanders.
The investigation concluded that Skhvitaridze had struck Kavtaradze twice with a baton; however, according to TI Georgia, which reviewed the case materials, this allegation could not be substantiated with evidence.
‘This was an attack by titushki [a slang term of Ukrainian origin used to describe plainclothes security forces used to attack government critics] on the protesters […] In the prosecutor’s video, the context is cut out. In footage shot from different angles, it is not visible that I am holding a stick-like object; the clips show that I am calm and walking peacefully’, Skhvitaridze said during Wednesday’s trial.
Moreover, the report and Skhvitaridze’s defence repeatedly emphasised that Kavtaradze was neither performing official duties at Liberty Square nor identifiable as a police officer.
‘They were striking me in the ribs and head’
Skhvitaridze was not detained at the scene. He was taken into custody the next day, 5 December, while, according to Indigo, traveling by car with his father toward the Guria region in western Georgia. Police stopped the vehicle en route and transferred Skhvitaridze to Tbilisi without explaining the reason for his detention or allowing him to contact a lawyer.
According to Skhvitaridze, he was first threatened with sexual assault en route, before being beaten twice at the Tbilisi Police Main Department.
‘They were hitting me in the ribs and head. I was semi-conscious when one of the officers rushed at me, trying to break my arm. The beating probably lasted 5–10 minutes, maybe even longer […] I periodically lost consciousness’, he said in a letter sent from prison on 24 December.
According to him, he was beaten twice on two different floors. As his lawyer later explained, the first incident took place in Kavtaradze’s office as an act of revenge, while the second occurred in the office of the case investigator, Salome Edisharashvili, in order to extract a confession.
‘They began assaulting me again — hitting my legs and smashing various wooden objects over my head’, Skhvitaridze said about the second beating.
He is one of the many protesters who have recounted episodes of beatings, torture, humiliation, and threats by the police following their detention during the demonstrations.
There is no public information indicating that any police officer has been held accountable for such actions.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
