TBILISI, April 22 – A Tbilisi court on Wednesday upheld the pretrial detention order against former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia in the June 20 case, as prosecutors and defense lawyers again clashed over whether witness testimony links him to the injuries suffered during the 2019 protest crackdown.
The judge left in force the detention measure already imposed on Gakharia, who leads the opposition party For Georgia. Prosecutors had asked the court to keep that measure unchanged, while the defense opposed it. The judge sided with the prosecution.
Interpressnews says the court left the prison measure in force, but public reporting from late 2025 said Gakharia had already left Georgia and was abroad in Europe, with Reuters reporting at the time that he was living in Germany.
Gakharia is charged under articles that, according to Interpressnews, cover intentional injury to the health of more than two people and abuse of official powers by a person holding high political office. The charges carry a potential sentence of up to 13 years in prison.
The hearing also featured testimony from Luka Petriashvili, who is recognized as a victim in the June 20 case. He told the court he had gone to Rustaveli Avenue peacefully and did not think anyone would shoot him with pellets and then bear-shot rounds. He said there had been no warning from law enforcement, and that he was struck multiple times in the upper body and then again in the head after moving through the crowd. Petriashvili added, “Giorgi Gakharia was not there, but I understand logically that such decisions do not come out of thin air.”
Gakharia’s lawyer Berdia Sichinava said the prosecution has 1,060 witnesses on its list but still cannot name “one witness or evidence” showing that Gakharia organized the intentional serious injury of protesters. He argued that the witness examined on Wednesday could not physically connect his injuries to Gakharia’s guilt because, according to the defense, it has not been established that Gakharia gave any order to use rubber bullets.
Prosecutor Mariam Gigauri gave the opposite reading. She said witnesses are confirming the circumstances of the June 20 protest, including whether law enforcement exceeded its powers and how people were injured. She also said the prosecution has requested multiple other forms of evidence and seized material evidence, and that Gakharia’s guilt will be established after the full body of evidence is examined in court.
