Monday Cable – October 13, 2025

Dear readers, good Monday morning as we come back from a rather dark week of October 4 aftershocks, with dozens arrested and the future still uncertain. Below, we discuss the past week, the weekend developments, and what to expect this week, which is also when parliament plenaries return.

How was the past week?

October 4 Aftershocks: Georgia continues to deal with the aftershocks of the October 4 election-day unrest. Authorities have arrested 46 people in total, including all five rally organizers. Of those, 44 have been placed in pre-trial detention, two were released on bail, and two have been charged in absentia. Most detainees face charges of group violence and attempts to seize a strategic facility – offenses carrying between six and nine years in prison. The two released on bail are notable figures: 71-year-old doctor Giorgi Chakhunashvili and musician Ia Darakhvelidze, who has been diagnosed with epilepsy. Those remaining in custody are also reported to be suffering, both physically and financially, including sole breadwinners and caregivers from economically struggling families, as well as individuals with chronic illnesses. Authorities have pledged to make further arrests. Read the details here.

Theories: speculations persist as to what went down on the fateful evening – or long before that evening. The claims of “trap” and “treason” have been recently complemented by TV reports, including from opposition-leaning TV Pirveli, which suggested that the fence at the presidential palace was cut beforehand to be torn easily and provoke a break-in, as well as a Formula TV report which cited sources naming ex-Security Service Head Grigol Liluashvili as an alleged “double agent” who deceived rally organizers into believing that parts of the security apparatus were ready to defect.

However, other opposition-minded commentators have dismissed such theories as mere excuses or conspiracies, instead viewing the plan as a tragic gamble or misjudgment. “One should believe that those people wanted something and simply made a mistake — either they were naïve or had a different understanding of reality,” writer Lasha Bughadze wrote on Facebook.

Also: as mystery (and mist) remains, you can read our on-the-ground recollection of that chaotic day in our latest Dispatch column.

Weekend News

If that’s EU, I don’t Want It: United Neutral Georgia, a ruling party-aligned hardline platform, insists on a referendum on EU membership, citing the EU’s new LGBTIQ+ strategy as a fresh affront to Georgian identity. “This is a clear red line in the Georgia-EU relations,” the platform said, announcing “consultations” to conduct, in the shortest time, a referendum, which will “clearly determine the will of Georgian population, whether the citizens of our country want Georgia to become the member of the EU where the children change their sex, but parents have no say about it,” the platform said. It’s not the first time the group has floated the idea of a referendum on EU membership, but lately they’ve become quite insistent. Some point out that the UNG is floating trial balloons that may (or, depending on reception, not) become GD policy: they were at the origins of the wide-ranging “sabotage probe,” under which the CSO leaders were summoned by the prosecution and the accounts of seven NGOs were frozen.

Eurowars: Georgian Dream Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, sharing the news of Hungary’s Orban initiating a signature campaign against “EU war plans” on Facebook, said: “I don’t know how much it is acknowledged in the EU’s capitals that the ‘peace project’ increasingly resembles a ‘war project.’ That’s up to EU leaders to consider. But it’s a fact – Brussels is behind Tbilisi’s street wars.”

You Are Summoned: If you are lucky enough not to be arrested these days, chances are you will at least be summoned by some state agency. Among the more controversial summonses of the past week were: controversial ex-UNM minister Bacho Akhalaia, called in by the Interior Ministry for questioning over his possible involvement in the October 4 events; his wife, Ani Nadareishvili, summoned in parallel by the State Security Service; and Tamar Chergoleishvili, leader of the Federalist Party and a vocal critic of both the October 4 “peaceful revolution” plans and the UNM figures behind them, who is to be questioned by police over her remarks about “having information” on meetings allegedly held at Akhalaia’s home.

Also, Davit Jandieri, lawyer of jailed ex-Ivanishvili associate Giorgi Bachiashvili, was summoned by the State Security Service in connection with a probe regarding the alleged “staging” of Bachiashvili’s prison beating. One ex-prison official was arrested during a probe, while another one was found dead in what is being investigated as a suicide.

What to expect

One-party parliament returns to plenary sessions after a month-long election-related recess. The sittings are set to resume on October 15, as October 14 is a public holiday in Georgia. Among the issues on the agenda are the 2026 state budget, the approval of new Supreme Court judge nominees, and yet another “anti-corruption” bill that critics say once again targets former Georgian Dream allies. The bill obligates those convicted of official or financial crimes to submit financial declarations for 30 years.

From Civil.ge’s Archives:

Misha Returns: speaking of municipal election-day madness, let’s go back to the previous local vote and remember ex-President Saakashvili’s surprise arrival on the eve of the 2021 polling day. Here’s Civil.ge report:

“Former President Mikheil Saakashvili, wanted on several charges, said he has arrived in Georgia. In an unexpected Facebook post early on October 1, Saakashvili said, “Good morning, Georgia. From Georgia after eight years.” In another poor-quality unverified video post on his Facebook page, Saakashvili supposedly addresses the public from the port of Batumi at night, a coastal city near the Turkish border. In the video, Saakashvili, who earlier posted the October 2 Kyiv-Tbilisi flight, said he had said will arrive in Tbilisi soon. Georgian media cited the Interior Ministry as saying that Saakashvili did not cross the border. Saakashvili called on his supporters to gather on Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare, and nearby Freedom Square on October 3, the day after local elections. “When there will be 100,000 of us, I am sure there will be no power to defeat us,” said Saakashvili. “And I will of course join you.” Full report here.

Visuals: Do Not Cross

Protesters on Rustaveli Avenue have been maintaining security around the parliament themselves after police, for unclear reasons, moved their cordon farther back, increasing the risk of incidents.