A Georgian man, Giorgi Chighladze, was arrested and faces up to three years in prison after hitting a foreign national, a Russian-speaking woman, in her hotel room during a wedding event in the Eastern Georgian region of Kakheti.
While the woman’s friend, who posted the video of the physical attack on Instagram, claims that the man attacked the woman for speaking Russian, the man’s defense argues that the woman was part of the group that triggered the conflict and was the one to first engage in physical confrontation.
“According to the witness testimonies, during a wedding in one of the hotels in Telavi [city in Kakheti], the foreign nationals staying at the hotel offended persons attending the wedding from their hotel room balcony and spilled the water on the equipment, after which the suspect inflicted physical injury on the foreign woman,” the Interior Ministry said in a July 19 statement.
The Ministry did not specify the nationality of the injured woman, but said she was transferred to a clinic for medical assistance.
The incident took place at Agarani Estate hotel. The Instagram video, depicting the hitting incident and uploaded by the woman’s friend, Instagram user Polina Kurta, late on July 18, shows a heated argument in English in a hotel room. The woman is heard telling the man, “you are in my room,” while the man says in response, “you are in my country, mo***er.”
The man is then seen pushing the woman with his hands, saying, “it is my brother’s wedding,” followed by the woman physically pushing him with her hands out of the room, saying in Russian, “what are you doing, get out!” The man is then seen hitting her in the face, after which the woman falls.
There appear to be at least four people in the room, including the man and the woman involved in the incident, another woman – apparently the woman’s friend – seen in the video, and a person filming the scene.
The next scenes show the woman sitting on the ground surrounded by blood-stained towels, and later lying on the bed, as emergency services provide medical assistance.
The video’s caption reads: “Our vacation at Agarani Estate ended with a man, having heard Russian being spoken at a hotel in Kakheti near Tbilisi, breaking into our room (the reception gave our room number to this man) and beating my friend [Instagram user @julimurr] because she speaks Russian.”
Defense Accuses Hotel Guests of Triggering Conflict, Initiating Physical Attack
The relatives and defense lawyers of the arrested man claim the group of hotel guests was the one to provoke the conflict, and the woman was the first to engage in physical confrontation.
“Giorgi Chigladze is a victim of the provocation staged by the Russians,” Lasha Kapanadze, Chigladze’s lawyer, wrote on Facebook on July 19.
According to Kapanadze’s account, the wedding took place on the terrace on the hotel’s ground floor, while Russian-speaking guests were on the second floor, first calling Russian phrases – “Горько!” (a traditional Russian-language call on a wedding couple to kiss) and later spilling liquids and spitting towards the wedding guests.
Kapanadze says the liquid damaged the wedding musical equipment, leading to an initial verbal argument between the two groups, which was followed by verbal slurs and swearing from the Russian-speaking group towards the wedding guests. According to the lawyer, the wedding guests asked the hotel management to intervene. He alleged that the musical equipment was eventually fixed and music continued, which was followed by renewed acts of spitting and spilling liquid by the hotel guests, leading the wedding singer to leave the event.
The lawyer says that, after hotel staff failed to resolve the issue, Chighladze, the groom’s brother, went to the second floor and knocked on the woman’s door. According to the lawyer, when she opened the door, Chighladze, standing “at the edge of the doorway, possibly slightly inside,” told her that “this was no way to behave” and that they had effectively ruined his brother’s wedding. The woman allegedly responded in English that Chighladze was in her room and asked him to speak in Russian.
According to the lawyer’s account, Chighladze responded in English, saying she was in his country and asking to speak either in Georgian or English, after which “the woman became more aggressive, grabbed Giorgi Chighladze by the neck, and inflicted an injury.”
Kapanadze says that, meanwhile, other women staying in the hotel room also entered the scene, and one of them started filming as the argument went on, during which “the woman swung her right hand toward Giorgi Chighladze’s neck area,” which the man blocked. According to the lawyer, “the verbal confrontation continued for a moment, during which the woman […] struck Giorgi Chighladze in the chest with both hands, causing him pain,” after which “Chighladze swung his right hand in an attempt to fend her off and struck the woman in the face with his elbow, causing the woman to fall.”
Kapanadze uploaded a photo showing Chigladze with bruises on his neck, allegedly a result of the altercation. He said the emergency services registered the injury, and the defense has requested medical expertise.
The Interior Ministry investigates under Article 120 of the Criminal Code, which covers “intentional infliction of minor harm to health” and foresees penalties ranging from a fine to imprisonment of up to three years.
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