The court in Georgia sentenced 21-year-old Mate Devidze to 4.5 years in prison for violence against protests. The opposition and human rights organizations blame the authorities for unfair processes.
The court in Tbilisi acknowledged on Thursday 21-year-old activist Mate Devidze for guilty of an attack on the police and sentenced him to 4.5 years in prison. Informed AFP, writes TASR.
Devidze was detained in November 2024 during the Assembly, which the participants asked for new parliamentary elections. This demonstration was held before Prime Minister Irakli Kobachidze announced the suspension of negotiations on the EU’s accession to the EU.
The prosecutor’s office claimed that Devidze had injured three police officers who intervened against the demonstrators. Devidze denied it. His advocates questioned the credibility of the testimonies of the police.
Disagreement wanted to express calmly
Devidze said before the court that he had participated in the protests “to calmly express his disagreement with the divert (Georgia) from direction to the EU”. He accused the judge of being the executor of the government’s “orders” and recalled that no one has been responsible for the beating of journalists and protesters. Devidze described the entire trial as unfair and left the courtroom before the judgment was filed.
At the final hearing was also Georgian ex -president Salome Zurabišvili, who described the judgment as “shameful” and “parody of justice”.
This trial is part of a series of court proceedings against opposition leaders and activists. Judgments over other accused are expected in the coming weeks.
Protests have been held for almost 200 days
AFP stated that protests in Georgia have been running continuously for 197 days, and the participation in them decreased from the initial tens of thousands to several hundred demonstrators a day. Many of them were repeatedly imposed by police officers for high fines for participation in an anti -government event.
In the first weeks of protests, the police often used tear gas and water cannons against demonstrators and detained hundreds of people, AFP recalled. Amnesty International’s human rights organization and the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Ombudsman have also accused security forces of “torture” detainees.
