The Court of Appeals approved plea agreements with three defendants convicted over the October 4, 2025 election-day unrest: Nika Gventsadze, Giorgi Chakhunashvili, and Zakro Albutashvili, reducing their prison sentences. Chakhunashvili, a prominent 72-year-old doctor, was freed from the courtroom, while Gventsadze and Albutashvili are expected to leave prison in the coming weeks.
Under the plea agreements, Nika Gventsadze was sentenced to one year in prison followed by three years of suspended sentence. Chakhunashvili was sentenced to three months in prison followed by three years of suspended sentence, while Zakro Albutashvili’s sentence was changed to one year in prison followed by three years of suspended sentence.
Gventsadze was among the first group of ten defendants sentenced in the October 4 case in May. He was sentenced to five years in prison after Tbilisi City Court found him guilty of participating in group violence and attempting to seize a strategically important facility.
Chakhunashvili and Albutashvili were among seven defendants sentenced on June 19 in a separate group. Both were convicted of participating in group violence and attempting to seize a strategically important facility.
Unrest erupted in Tbilisi on October 4, 2025, the day of partially boycotted municipal elections. Following a call by organizers of a rally promoting what they described as a “peaceful revolution,” a group of protesters attempted to occupy the presidential palace in downtown Tbilisi and were repelled by police.
Up to 60 people have been charged in connection with the events. Most were placed in pretrial detention, including former United National Movement-era Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia, who was later arrested on accusations of helping lead the unrest.
More than 30 defendants reached plea agreements with the prosecution in the initial trials in the first-instance courts, with 24 securing their immediate release while 12 had their sentences reduced. The plea agreement of one of the latter 12, Giorgi Kirvalidze, was later revoked by the appeals court, as the judge and prosecutors argued the defendant failed to genuinely acknowledge his guilt. Two more who had their sentences reduced, as well as another defendant who was given a full sentence, were later among the nine protesters pardoned by Georgian Dream-elected President Mikheil Kavelashvili.
Georgian Dream officials have characterized the events as a foreign-backed coup attempt. Some government critics, however, have questioned whether the confrontation may have been facilitated by the authorities themselves, pointing to claims that sections of the palace railings had been left loosely secured.
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