The defense called the verdict in the case of the storming of the presidential palace in Georgia illegal.

The Tbilisi City Court sentenced the organizers and participants of the protest that took place on October 4, 2026, the day of the municipal elections, to lengthy prison terms. The defense called the verdict politically motivated.

As reported by Caucasian Knot, in mid-January, the Tbilisi City Court remanded in custody eleven people accused of organizing riots in Tbilisi during a protest on the day of the October 4 municipal elections.

Court delivers verdict in case of riots near presidential palace

Today, the court delivered guilty verdicts to participants in the events that took place near the presidential palace on Atoneli Street on October 4, 2025, Interpressnews reports.

Opera singer Paata Burchuladze and United National Movement members Murtaz Zodelava and Irakli Nadiradze, Paata Manjgaladze, a representative of the Strategy Agmashenebeli party, and Lasha Beridze, former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces, all members of the protest's organizing committee, were each sentenced to seven years in prison.

Activists Tornike Mchedlishvili, Nika Gventsadze, Irakli Chkhvirkia, and Guri Zhvania were each sentenced to five years in prison. Irakli Shaishmelashvili, former head of the Operational Planning Department of the Special Assignments Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, who is currently abroad, was convicted in absentia. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

According to Paata Burchuladze's son, Alexander Burchuladze, it became clear today that the regime sentenced not only the organizers but also ordinary people to prison, Pirveli TV reports.

"This court cannot remain unpunished for long. We know for sure that seven years is nothing, they will soon be released. The fight continues, no one has been broken, many have been caught, we will fight to the end and will definitely win," said Alexander Burchuladze.

The defense called the verdict politicized

"It has once again been proven that the courts in this country have been abolished and captured by the regime installed by Ivanishvili," he said after Irakli Abesadze, Irakli Nadiradze's lawyer, announced the verdict.

According to him, the judge shaped the verdict into political statements and accusations that the regime's propagandists had been spreading for so long. "When I, as a lawyer, am asked what I expected, what verdict the so-called judge would deliver, I always answer that he should have taken into account the political statements of Papuashvili, Kobakhidze, Kaladze and other regime propagandists who stubbornly insist that politicians organized some kind of criminal actions on October 4, 2025, although there is no legal evidence for this," the lawyer said.

According to lawyer Beka Basilaia, the court's decision was completely unfounded and illegal; the court voiced what the government ordered.

"The decision has no logical explanation or legal basis. The court's application of the first part of Article 225 of the Criminal Code 1 was absolutely incorrect. At the same time, I wanted "I would like to emphasize that even the minimum standard of deception required by the prosecutor's office in politically motivated cases did not exist in the case of Paata Manjgaladze. There was no evidence, not the slightest hint of guilt. Meanwhile, an illegal and unfounded decision was made against everyone else," Basilaia said.

The attempt to seize the presidential palace was doomed to failure and gave the current government a new opportunity to pressure the opposition. Analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" indicated that a peaceful change of power remains only if the opposition overcomes its disunity.

Municipal elections were held in all municipalities of Georgia on October 4. Candidates from the ruling Georgian Dream party were elected mayors in all 64 cities where elections were held, receiving 100% of the vote in 26 of them. These elections will determine the political balance in Georgia for the coming years. The next major elections in the country are scheduled for 2028, so the current vote is essentially a key one for both the government and the opposition, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Municipal Elections in Georgia on October 4, 2025".

"Caucasian Knot" is posting materials about the past municipal elections and protests by opposition supporters on the thematic page "Georgia: Elections Amid Protests".