Judge Irakli Shvangiradze left in custody several of those detained in the October 4 case: Paata Burchuladze, Murtaz Zodelava, Paata Manjgaladze, Irakli Nadiradze, Lasha Beridze, Irakli Shaishmelashvili, Tornike Mchedlishvili, Nika Gvencadze, Guri Zhvania, and Irakli Chkhvirkia.

Some of the defendants used their right to speak and addressed both the judge and the audience. Among them was Irakli Nadiradze, a member of the United National Movement, who spoke about the reasons that, in his words, led the public to the October 4 protest.

The judge interrupted Nadiradze several times, asking him to speak specifically about the case. Nadiradze argued that describing and assessing ongoing events in the country was directly connected to the October 4 rally and, therefore, to the criminal case at hand.

“Since all communication with the outside world is forbidden to me, I want to first greet all political prisoners, prisoners of conscience. My special respect to the parents and family members of these prisoners of conscience, and to everyone who fights every day with great determination and perseverance to defend our country’s dignity, freedom, and European future.

What I want to say is this: today is November 26, and in two days it will be one year since that ominous day, November 28, when the so-called Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that the country would no longer move toward Europe, and would instead head in an absolutely unclear direction which, of course, meant toward Russia.

October 26, the falsified elections, was not enough for them when they took the country out of its constitutional framework and usurped power and on November 28 they overthrew the constitution for a second time by declaring that the country would no longer follow the European path. Thus we faced a situation where the ones who violated the constitution and stepped outside its boundaries were Georgian Dream and Bidzina Ivanishvili. And yes, on that day both Georgian society and the international community finally saw that Ivanishvili had no intention of bringing the country into the EU or NATO and making it prosperous; instead, step by step, using a script written in Moscow, the plan was to destroy democratic institutions, alienate us from our international partners, and establish a dictatorship in this country.

On the one hand, we have a population living in extreme hardship poverty, lack of opportunity  being told that they have no place here and should flee the country. Peaceful citizens, pensioners who cannot afford their pensions, rising prices for food, medicine, unemployment at its peak… And meanwhile, the so-called government calmly accumulates gold bars, millions, billions  and mocks us.

For years, Bidzina Ivanishvili has been fighting against political parties, against the free media, civil activists, NGOs. Now they have turned to the education system, wanting our children to be left uneducated, while their own children study in the best European institutions  flown there on charter flights, like Garibashvili’s, for example. October 4 was an outcry against this injustice, this shamelessness, this corruption, the violation of dignity, this humiliation. The struggle of each one of us here was and is a sincere struggle. No one wants this corruption, this injustice, these degrading actions. No one wants Russification to put it simply.

October 4 was a day of struggle. A day of fighting for freedom, for our dignity. Of course, it also had negative consequences such as the emergence of many new political prisoners, prisoners of conscience. These valuable, honorable people, whom I have met here, are imprisoned because of their love for their homeland. That is a tragic aspect  that we gained many new political and conscience prisoners. The second is the disappointment: people are so overwhelmed by poverty, unemployment, humiliation, and injustice that they wanted everything to end that very day. And the third important thing: for a full year  Your Honor from last year’s November 28 until today, we have had uninterrupted protest. The authorities tried to label these protests, including October 4, as violent rallies… I thank all journalists who showed the public what the government was prepared to do. They showed everything that happened at that fence  and this is why none of our foreign partners called the October 4 rally a violent protest,” said Irakli Nadiradze.

A total of 64 people have been detained in the October 4 case. Their cases are divided into five parts.

Some of them are accused of participating in group violence, some of organizing this violence, and others of blocking a strategically important facility. Certain detainees face charges under multiple articles.

The Prosecutor’s Office accuses Irakli Nadiradze of committing three separate crimes:

• Attempted seizure and blocking of a strategic and specially important facility, committed by a group (Article 19-222, Part 2, Subparagraph “a”);
• Organizing and leading group violence (Article 225, Part 1);
• Public incitement to overthrow the constitutional order of Georgia by force and to topple the government (Article 317).