19-Year-Old Protester Saba Jikia Sentenced to 4.5 Years in Jail Over ‘Assaulting' Police
Judge Tamar Mchedlishvili delivered the verdict on July 10, during a hearing with limited media coverage, just weeks after new restrictions on courtroom recording
took effect
.
'I have to spend my youth in prison,' Jikia told the court in his final remarks, as
quoted
by RFE/RL's live blog. 'But my arrest has had its advantages too: I found a new family… I met other very good boys [inmates]… I realized the value of freedom, and I'll have a great story to tell my grandchildren. I stand on the right side of history.'
Jikia was arrested on December 5, 2024, a week after the non-stop protests broke out in response to Georgian Dream's announcement on halting European integration. He turned 19 on June 26. He was accused of kicking a fallen riot police officer.
The charges of assaulting a police officer carry a prison sentence of four to seven years. However, lawyers had argued that the law allows courts to apply juvenile justice measures to defendants under 21, which could result in a more lenient sentence if the defendant is found guilty.
The allegations are based on
video evidence
where a young man, whom the prosecution identifies as Jikia, is seen swinging his leg at a fallen man dressed in black and wearing a helmet, after the latter is pushed to the ground amid the confrontation with other protesters.
Witness Beka Gotiashvili has testified as a riot police officer in the episode. In the
audio recording
from the hearing, published by
Publika,
Gotiashvili is heard confirming he was hit in the extremity, but denies sustaining any injuries.
Defense argued it is unclear from the video whether there is actual contact between a young man, allegedly Jikia, and the fallen man, and complained they were not allowed to question an expert on the matter. According to the lawyer, Jikia couldn't identify the fallen man as a police officer, as he wore no insignia. The lawyer further claimed that it was also impossible to establish whether the fallen man was Gotiashvili, the testifying riot police officer.
'It is not established that Saba Jikia was conscious of whether the [fallen individual] was a citizen, law enforcer, or a representative of any other organization,' Guja Avsajanishvili, Jikia's lawyer,
told
Netgazeti in June. 'We know that there were numerous people with similar clothing at the rally.'
According to Avsajanishvili, if the policeman had any identifying sign on his uniform, the uniform would have been presented by the prosecution as evidence, which was not the case.
The violent police dispersal in the first weeks of the protests came amid concerns over the involvement of so-called 'men in black' — often masked individuals wearing no police uniforms or identification. Their anonymity is thought to have further enabled the impunity of those who used excessive force. The initial period also saw repeated incidents of thug violence, with masked men, so-called Titushki, who were widely believed to be linked to the ruling Georgian Dream party, attacking protesters.
No police officer has been held accountable despite numerous
documented abuses
during dispersals. Dozens of protesters, however, remain in jail on criminal charges, convicted or awaiting their verdicts.
Jikia is the sixth protester to be convicted among those arrested since November 2024. Earlier convictions include
those of
Giorgi Mindadze
,
Mate Devidze
,
Denis Kulanin,
Daniel Mumladze, and Guram Khutashvili
,
all of whom were sentenced to years in jail.
Seven more remain in prison after being convicted over their involvement in the spring 2024 protests against the foreign agents law, including Omar Okribelashvili, Saba Meparishvili, and Pridon Bubuteishvili, who were
convicted
in January, Davit Koldari, Giorgi Kuchuashvili, and Giorgi
Okmelashvili
, who were convicted
in February
, as well as Irakli Megvinetukhutsesi, convicted in December.
Eight individuals, including six active opposition politicians, were recently
sentenced
to prison terms of several months for defying the Georgian Dream investigative commission.
Politpatimrebi.ge
,
a recently created civic platform, currently lists 66 persons who were jailed in 2024-2025 and are considered political prisoners.
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