The Appellate Court has upheld the first-instance decision to sentence Anatoli Gigauri to 2 years in prison. The decision was made by Judge Giorgi Keratishvili.
Gigauri, who was sentenced on August 12 by Judge Jvebe Nachkebia of the Tbilisi City Court for resisting a police officer, remains in custody.
Nachkebia’s decision had been appealed by both the defense and the prosecution: lawyer Lasha Tsutsqiridze requested Gigauri’s acquittal and release, while prosecutor Tamar Iakobidze sought his conviction under the initially proposed article for assaulting a police officer, which carries a sentence of 4-7 years.
Tamta Kakhidze, a lawyer from Transparency International Georgia who attended the hearing, shared Gigauri’s statement:
“My way of life is to be dignified and dedicated. I will do everything for my country […] My motive was not to attack a police officer. If it were, why would I have hit Gabunia specifically?! Apparently, I obey the law like everyone else.
[…] As long as I am alive, I will not stop. Until every person who caused this suffering to my family is held criminally accountable, I will not stop. You are like water to the system, I am the wind, and I can dry it too.
I have never spared my life for my country and my people. That is exactly why I entered politics and went door to door to learn what my people needed […] This is a political case. Whether you decide this way or that way, I know I am strong like a rock and that I am right. My truth will be recognized in time. If I don’t do this, I am not a man. So many people stand behind me whose love and trust I have earned—I cannot betray them.”
The former military serviceman, 45-year-old Anatoli Gigauri, was arrested on November 25, 2024, while returning home from a protest on Rustaveli Avenue. The prosecution accuses him of assaulting police officer Vakhtang Gabunia by punching him. The defense argues that Gigauri did not intend to harm the officer and acted only in self-defense, so he should be fully acquitted.
Gigauri admits he hit police officer Gabunia but claims it was in self-defense. Court-reviewed footage reportedly shows that Gabunia first struck Gigauri at the protest. Gigauri also states that Gabunia insulted him during the attack and attempted to punch him a second time, prompting him to raise his hand in defense, which struck the officer on the jacket near his neck.
Furthermore, Gigauri claims that Gabunia and other police officers also assaulted him after his arrest, including at the police station. According to Gigauri, the officers even tried to stop his bleeding before bringing him inside the station, going so far as to take him to a nearby pharmacy to purchase basic first aid supplies before returning him to the station.
The Special Investigation Service initially investigated the case of police violence against Gigauri, but the agency was dissolved in summer 2025, and its functions were absorbed by the Prosecutor’s Office. To date, no police officers involved in Gigauri’s case have been charged.