MIA Frees GD Activists Citing Lack of Evidence While Court Releases Anti-GD Activist on Bail

Georgia’s Interior Ministry released two Georgian Dream activists who attacked anti-government protesters during the September 8 tensions at the ruling party’s campaign office on Tbilisi’s Melikishvili Avenue, after a ministry official said the victims “did not cooperate” with the investigation. Meanwhile, a court released on bail an anti-Georgian Dream activist who was charged with “damaging” Mayor Kakha Kaladze’s campaign poster.

“Unfortunately, the victim activists have not cooperated with the investigation, and based on their testimonies, it has become impossible to hold accountable two persons who were detained on group violence charges,” Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, Georgian Dream’s Deputy Interior Minister, said at a September 12 news briefing. “Accordingly, they were released from custody today.”

Darakhvelidze added that in the case of a third activist – an anti-GD activist detained on “property damage” charges for defacing Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze’s campaign poster- prosecutors requested the court to grant her release on bail. The activist, 23-year-old student Megi Diasamidze, was released on a GEL 2,000 bail after several hours.

Selective Justice?

Three people – two GD supporters and one anti-GD activist – were detained over the September 8–9 events outside the ruling party’s campaign office on Tbilisi’s Melikishvili Avenue. MIA said the two were arrested on group violence charges, citing Zaza Mamaladze striking a woman in the face, and Irakli Buachidze hitting a protester with a baton, while adding that another, anti-GD activist, Megi Diasamidze, “damaged” the campaign poster of Mayor Kakha Kaladze, who is seeking a third term.

Both Georgian Dream activists were filmed during the September 8 attacks. Zaza Mamaladze was seen striking a woman in the face, but also throwing a metal barrier at protesters and making obscene gestures at them from the entrance of the GD office, which was cordoned by police. Irakli Buachidze appeared in one video repeatedly beating a fallen citizen with a rubber baton, and in another telling a police officer, “I am on your side, I am on Georgian Dream’s side.” The officer took away his baton but did not arrest him.

Their release, justified by the Interior Ministry as the result of victims’ alleged non-cooperation with the investigation, drew public backlash. Keti Alaverdashvili, the woman whom Zaza Mamaladze slapped in the face, rejected MIA’s justification of the attackers as “absurd,” saying she and her lawyer were present at the interrogation and provided all recordings during testimony. She stressed that Zaza Mamaladze was arrested on “group violence” charges and not merely for slapping her. “But because I did not experience pain [from his slap], now they release him while ignoring other footage of violence,” she wrote on Facebook.

Pro–Georgian Dream TV channel Rustavi 2 expanded on the official version, claiming it had “found out” why the two were released. The channel reported that the prosecution against Irakli Buachidze was dropped after the victim testified they “were not hit with a baton.” In Zaza Mamaladze’s case, Rustavi 2 said the victim testified she “did not experience pain” from the slap, which it claimed “automatically provided the legal basis for his release.”

While the two government-affiliated activists were freed with charges against them dropped, prosecution continues against the anti-GD activist, who was released only on bail.

Megi Diasamidze, 23, has been charged under the “damage or destruction of another person’s property resulting in substantial damage” (Article 187 of the Criminal Code of Georgia). The charge stems from the September 9 events at Melikishvili Avenue, where more citizens gathered to protest after the previous day’s attacks. Some of them, including Diasamidze, defaced Kaladze’s campaign banners by splashing yogurt on one and erasing words to write “Russian Dream” on others. Notably, the new writings on the posters were quickly wiped off after the protesters left the scene.

Civil society groups and opposition parties said the criminal prosecution against her was politically motivated and disproportionate. Former Deputy Mayor Irakli Abesadze argued that Kaladze’s posters – the defacement of which led to the charges against the activist – had been illegally placed in a cultural heritage zone and should have resulted in a fine of GEL 16,000 (about USD 6,000) for Kaladze.

Nona Kurdovanidze, head of local human rights watchdog Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), said, “It was not a crime, but an administrative offense.” She said she could not recall a case where minor damage to a poster was pursued under criminal charge.

Lawyer Saba Brachveli of the Civil Society Foundation (CSF) echoed the point, saying the case should be classified as an administrative offense punishable by a GEL 1,000 fine.

Megi Diasamidze’s lawyer, Shota Tutberidze, described the circumstances of her detention as a “very funny, primitive special operation.” He said his client was detained in Lanchkhuti, western Georgia, while traveling to her village by bus. Her phone was seized, she was denied access to legal counsel for nine hours, and her hands were tied behind her back during the hours-long transfer to Tbilisi. He added that she was not told why she was detained.

Also Read:

• 08/09/2025 – Protesters, Journalists Assaulted, Injured at Kaladze Campaign Office
• 02/09/2025 – Police Detain Sixteen Protesters at Rustaveli Avenue Rally

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