Protester Anri Kvaratskhelia Sentenced to 4.5 Years in Jail Over Molotov Cocktail Allegations

Anzor (Anri) Kvaratskhelia, a 26-year-old protester detained early in December, was sentenced to four years and six months in jail as the Tbilisi City Court found him guilty of throwing a “Molotov cocktail” towards riot police in the early days of ongoing protests, an allegation the defense denies.

Judge Jvebe Nachkebia delivered the ruling on July 18, in the seventh guilty verdict against those arrested in the context of anti-Georgian Dream protests since November 2024. Kvaratskhelia was charged with assaulting police, which carries a prison sentence of four to seven years, with prosecutors arguing that he threw a Molotov cocktail in the direction of riot police on the night of December 1.

Kvaratskhelia’s defense has challenged the allegations, pointing to a lack of evidence and a forensic report stating that it was impossible to identify the alleged perpetrator.

“No matter how many years in prison you sentence me to, it is not essentially important to me. Today I’m proud that I stood for my country,” Kvaratskhelia told the court, according to RFE/RL’s Georgian Service, before the verdict was announced.

Kvaratskhelia was arrested during an early-morning police raid on his home on December 5, 2024 — one week after non-stop protests erupted in response to Georgian Dream’s announcement to halt EU accession. His wife, Nutsa Eremiani, later recounted the raid as traumatizing and said she suffered an early miscarriage shortly afterward.

The video evidence published by the Prosecutor’s Office shows two episodes, claiming both feature Kvaratskhelia. The first episode shows the man, with his face blurred, uncovering his face and showing middle fingers – allegedly at police – during a protest. Another episode shows a man, his face again blurred, igniting what looks like a Molotov cocktail and throwing it. The petrol bomb falls short of the riot police cordon and ignites.

The defense doesn’t contest that Kvaratskhelia features in the first episode, but says it is impossible to identify the man in the second, Molotov cocktail episode. An expert from Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau, Georgia’s key forensics agency, told the court in June that images in the second footage are “useless” in identifying a perpetrator. The expert, Mariam Rogava, added that a habitoscopic study cannot be conducted based on a person’s clothing.

The findings contradict the prosecution’s arguments that are based on separate findings appealing at the clothes worn by men in two episodes. “Videos should be assessed in a complex way,” Roin Khintibidze, prosecutor in Kvaratskhelia’s case, told journalists. He cited findings by an Interior Ministry expert who, Khintibidze says, “compared the walking manner [in two videos], and, most importantly, the clothes of the suspect, and when she assessed all this as a whole, she established as a result that the person in the footage is Anzor Kvaratskhelia.”

Two riot police officers, Nika Chavleishvili and Simon Gambashidze, testified in court. The police testimonies say the petrol bomb fell some 3-4 meters from them, after which they extinguished the fire. They denied being injured and said they were unable to identify the perpetrator.

The verdict comes as 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.

Kvaratskhelia is the seventh protester to be convicted among those arrested since November 2024. Earlier convictions include those of Saba Jikia, 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.