Tbilisi City Court Judge Nino Galustashvili found 21-year-old Mate Devidze guilty of assaulting a police officer and sentenced him to 4 years and 6 months in prison.
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"You all know that I only came here to see you, and today will probably be the last day; perhaps I won't see you for a long time. You know that I came from Telavi to Tbilisi for the protests because I wanted to protest against the deviation from the EU course. On November 19, at dawn, when the uniformed officers started [violent dispersal] on Chavchavadze Avenue, I had been sleepless for about two days, I was exhausted and didn't realize what was happening. When they started using force on us, I tried to avoid it, but I couldn't. You know what happened next.
While no one is held accountable for beating so many journalists and protesters, we are being sacrificed because... they are shielded by bloody power and money, and we have faced injustice. Forgive me, friends, I have to leave the courtroom because I cannot listen to this decision.
To look for light in endless darkness,” Mate Devidze said during the court session before Judge Galustashvili announced the verdict.
Mate Devidze was arrested on November 19, 2024, during a protest in Tbilisi where participants were demonstrating against the results of the parliamentary elections. The prosecution accused him of striking three police officers (Levan Kodelashvili, Giorgi Estatishvili, Bidzina Zhamerashvili) with a stick. Mate Devidze was charged under Article 353 Prime, Part 1 of the Criminal Code, which pertains to assaulting a police officer and carries a penalty of 4 to 7 years imprisonment.
"Mate Devidze did not have a stick at all; he had a rolled-up banner with some inscription. No one can confirm the opposite. The video footage shows no evidence of any assault, and neither Bidzina Zhamerashvili nor Giorgi Estatishvili can be identified. The only visible thing is the large number of police officers, their aggressive actions, and the arrests, including Mate Devidze's, where he was clearly seen being choked and forcibly dragged away by multiple officers. Did the so-called victims even sustain injuries from Mate Devidze during this protest? No part of the video recordings shows Mate Devidze attacking anyone," stated Mate Devidze's lawyer, Nato Mamulashvili.
Nino Galustashvili was appointed as a judge of the Criminal Cases Collegium of the Tbilisi City Court in December 2024. She passed the judicial qualification exam in criminal law in 2023.
