Onise Tskhadadze

Apprehended

Tortured

Violence

Prisoner

O. Tskhadadze

Onise
Tskhadadze

Onise Tskhadadze, a 28-year-old humorist and stand-up comedian, was arrested on December 5, 2024, in Terjola, at his family's home. Before his arrest, Onise Tskhadadze lived in Tbilisi with his brother and participated in pro-European rallies. During the dispersal of the November 30th protest, both were beaten, but Onise was recognized by a special forces officer who let him go, asking, "Aren't you the one who does sketches?"

On December 4th, Onise wrote on Facebook: "The truth is nowhere to be seen. Someone turn it on for me, please?" The next day, he was arrested at his family home in Terjola. "They entered the house through all the doors, as if they were capturing a terrorist," his brother recalls.

The prosecutor's office accuses him of committing group violent acts, under Article 225, Part 2 of the Criminal Code. Andro Chichinadze, Jano Archaia, Ruslan Sivakov, Luka Jabua, Guri Mirtskhulava, Valeri Tetradze, Giorgi Terishvili, Irakli Kerashvili, Rezo Kiknadze, and Sergei Kukharchuk are being tried together under the same article. The crime carries a penalty of four to six years of imprisonment. Tskhadadze's lawyer, Lasha Tsutskiridze, stated that his client does not know any of the other individuals and was alone at the rally that day, and that group affiliation cannot be proven in this case.

The evidence presented against Onise Tskhadadze includes several video recordings. In one video, the prosecution claims that he is seen throwing small objects, a stick, and a bottle in the direction of law enforcement officers near the Parliament during a protest, "thereby endangering the health and lives of law enforcement officers and other individuals." However, the materials do not show whether these objects hit the police officers or if they posed any real threat to them. A habitoscopic examination was also conducted as part of the investigation, which concluded that the person depicted in the video is Onise Tskhadadze.

The defense argues that there is no objective evidence to prove Tskhadadze's guilt. According to the lawyers, his arrest was politically motivated, and the government's goal is to suppress the protests. Analysis of court decisions shows that the decisions by Judge Tamar Mchedlishvili and later by Ketevan Jachvadze to keep Tskhadadze in pre-trial detention were not justified – the threats presented by the prosecution, including the possibility of hiding, destroying evidence, or committing a new crime, were based only on hypothetical grounds. Lawyer Tsutskiridze emphasizes that most of the interviewed individuals are police officers, and Tskhadadze could not influence them. Also, he finds it incomprehensible how the injury of 158 police officers is related to the charges against the detainees.

Another of Tskhadadze's lawyers, Shota Tutberidze, reminded the court of the practice of using bail for individuals accused of much more serious crimes, citing the examples of athlete Zviad Zviadauri and former Prosecutor General Otar Partskhaladze.

As the lawyers explain, such an approach in court practice is considered a violation of European standards and has been condemned by numerous decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.

"I will start with my civic position. Despite the difficulty of being in custody, it is not easy for anyone. I don't care if you keep me in custody. People died for the sake of this country, and I don't want to do less than anyone else," Onise stated at the court hearing on January 10th.

The video recordings presented to the court show Tskhadadze picking up a small object from the road during the rally and throwing a bottle, as well as a colored smoke capsule. "I throw so badly, I almost hit myself in the foot, and I beg you to fine me 500 GEL for attempted suicide," he added. Simultaneously, threats, insults, and other verbal abuse from special forces officers towards the rally participants can be heard in the videos.

During the process, Tskhadadze also criticized the severity of the potential sentence against him: "If you sentence me to the maximum, it turns out I will spend 9 months less in prison than Vano Merabishvili, so according to you, I will be a very slightly different kind of criminal than him."

At the end of the court hearing, to emphasize the absurdity of the prosecution's arguments, he threw a matchbox and ironically added: "If you also think that throwing a bottle is a crime punishable by 4 to 6 years of imprisonment, then I have a matchbox that I will throw in the direction of the prosecutor's office, and add 3 months to my sentence."

Tskhadadze's lawyers and human rights defenders say that there are no signs of violence or group crime in the case. In their assessment, the accusation is based on the government's desire to suppress protest movements. Tskhadadze himself stated during the process: "Whoever wants to accept this reality, go ahead, but we do not accept it. No matter how long I have to be here, I know that we will meet in a free Georgia."

Throughout the court proceedings, Tskhadadze has repeatedly drawn attention to the politicization of the justice system. He also published a letter from prison, stating that he considers his case an attempt to suppress civil protest. His supporters believe that he is being treated unfairly during the court proceedings and that the government is using his imprisonment for political purposes.

Notably, the substantive review of the case was supposed to begin in January. Despite this, the prosecution requested an extension of the investigation period, which delayed the process by another two months. The argument? They did not have enough time to gather evidence. The judge granted this request, although the defense argues that the prosecution did not use the already granted two months effectively, and the additional time only serves to artificially prolong the process.

At the March 5th hearing, Judge Ketevan Jachvadze was replaced by a new judge, Irakli Shvangiradze, who took the oath in December 2024. According to human rights defenders, the change of judge is part of a "delaying tactic" aimed at dragging out the case.

Andro Chichinadze's lawyer, Guja Avsajanishvili, filed a motion to recuse the judge, as the case was assigned to Nino Tarashvili until March 4th. According to the lawyer, he would not have had time to familiarize himself with the materials (13 volumes) in such a short period. He named the judge's former role as a prosecutor as the second reason for recusal. The lawyers also demanded the recusal of sanctioned prosecutors Vazha Todua and Vakhtang Tsalugelashvili, but the judge did not grant any of the motions. Shvangiradze said that although the case was assigned to him the day before, he had put in "considerable effort" and familiarized himself with it.

According to the assessment of the Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI), Onise Tskhadadze's case meets at least two criteria of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's Resolution No. 1900 (2012) on "The definition of 'political prisoner'." Specifically, his imprisonment corresponds to the case of deprivation of liberty for "political purposes" and is also the result of legal proceedings that were clearly unfair and linked to political motives.

Onise Tskhadadze's case attracts particular attention both domestically and internationally. Western countries, including the USA and EU member states, are expressing increasing criticism towards the Georgian government, pointing to the restriction of democratic processes in the country. International organizations consider Tskhadadze's case politically motivated and demand steps towards his immediate release.

At this stage, Onise Tskhadadze remains in custody, and his court proceedings are ongoing. His defense team states that they will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

«»