On 21 November, Judge Davit Makaradze ruled on the cases of 13 demonstrators who were forcibly detained during a march in support of 21-year-old conscience objector Mate Devizde, officially on grounds of “insulting police officers” and “disobeying police orders.”
He found nine of the thirteen demonstrators guilty.

Judge Davit Makaradze is a new figure in politically motivated cases at the Tbilisi City Court. He has been exercising judicial authority there only since November, transferred from Gori on temporary assignment.  In Gori, he has served as a judge in the Criminal Cases Chamber since 2021. In Tbilisi, however, he was assigned administrative cases. Between 2020–2021, he also practiced as an attorney.

On 21 November, he appeared for the first time in politically sensitive cases. He issued various lengths of detention to some demonstrators and fines to others.

The nine demonstrators’ cases were split across five hearings. Two of the hearings went well beyond regular working hours the cases of translators Ketevan Khuskivadze and Nino Bardzimishvili, and later of English teacher Nino Gudashvili and student Vaso Beridze.

Khuskivadze received a 5,000-lari fine; Bardzimishvili received two days of detention.
Khuskivadze was released from the courtroom. Bardzimishvili was also set to be released that evening, as her 48-hour detention period would expire.

Shortly after her 19 November arrest, it was reported that the head of the Patrol Police, Goga Memanishvili, personally insulted Khuskivadze. Several officers then detained her using force. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, however, accused Khuskivadze of insulting the police. Bardzimishvili was charged with disobeying police orders.

“She called us ‘rude,’ when we were giving her instructions. She did not say anything else inappropriate for a woman,” said one of the police officers who detained Khuskivadze while testifying.

A witness Khuskivadze’s sister and Khuskivadze herself described the arrest episode in detail. According to them, Patrol Police chief Memanishvili instructed officers to “drag” the demonstrators onto the sidewalk. He allegedly pushed Khuskivadze’s sister as she was walking on the curb.

At that moment, Khuskivadze walked ahead of her sister on the sidewalk and addressed Memanishvili: “What kind of family raised you, how can you treat women like this?!”

According to Khuskivadze, this led to Memanishvili ordering her arrest, along with threats and verbal abuse.

The video evidence presented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs against Khuskivadze submitted by Tinatin Kachkachishvili and Tekle Kobakhidze did not feature her at all.

The video presented against Bardzimishvili shows her calling officers “servants,” in response to what she perceived as violent actions by police.

Khuskivadze is a lecturer at Tbilisi State University, a Hispanist, and a translator. She translated Gabriel García Márquez’s “We’ll Meet in August” into Georgian, among other Spanish-language works.

Bardzimishvili is also a translator; her translations include “Dune,” two books by Carlos Castaneda, and several works of nonfiction and reportage.

After their hearings, the cases of English teacher Nino Gudashvili and physics student Vaso Beridze were combined. Gudashvili was charged with disobeying and insulting police officers; Beridze was charged only with disobedience.

Again, the Ministry of Internal Affairs failed to present solid evidence to support its claims.

“If we’re in a scene from Blue Mountains, just say so directly,”
one of the defense attorneys remarked to the judge.

Before the ruling, Gudashvili stated:

“If I actually meant to say something, I would. But I didn’t. I’m very angry that I was kept locked up for nothing. I missed my classes at school. My reputation was damaged. I want my 48 hours back.”

Judge Makaradze announced his decision at 22:09.
Gudashvili received a 2,000-lari fine; Beridze received four days of detention.

Earlier, during regular court hours that same day, Judge Makaradze ruled on several other cases involving people detained on 19 November:

  • 5 days’ detention for student Khalibeg Magomedov, a member of the IliaUni student movement
  • 5,000-lari fine for activist Giorgi Zhimerashvili
  • 5,000-lari fine for activist Rezi Dumbadze
  • 4 days’ detention for psychologist Elene Berikashvili
  • 7 days’ detention for civic activist and disability rights advocate Gia Jvarsheishvili, who has been detained, fined, and reportedly subjected to police violence several times during the continuous protest movement

Since 18 October, under new regulations, the ruling party has tightened already repressive rules used to suppress protests.

Over 100 people have been detained for the alleged offense of “artificially blocking the road,” receiving between 1 and 15 days of detention.
Under the new rules, a repeated violation if the person has already served detention once triggers criminal prosecution and carries up to one year of imprisonment.

So far, the only person criminally prosecuted for participation in protests on grounds of road-blocking is Zura Menteshashvili. He is currently in pre-trial detention and has been on a protest hunger strike since the beginning of November.

Since the new regulations took effect on 18 October, numerous demonstrators have been detained often forcefully and sometimes taken from sidewalks on accusations of insulting or disobeying police officers. This includes events where police escalated force during marches on Rustaveli Avenue, such as the 13 detentions on 19 November during the march in support of Mate Devizde.