TBILISI, November 26 – At a hearing on Wednesday, Paata Burchuladze, a well-known opera singer turned opposition figure, told the court that the October 4 rally he helped lead in central Tbilisi was a “peaceful overthrow” carried out by the people, not an attempt at a violent coup as prosecutors claim.
Burchuladze is on trial alongside Murtaz Zodelava and Irakli Nadiradze over the confrontation near the presidential residence on Atoneli Street following a rally on Rustaveli Avenue and Freedom Square. Speaking publicly in court for the first time since his arrest, he said the plan had been to hold a peaceful rally on Atoneli as well, with delegates from the “national assembly” and, as he put it, possibly law enforcement officers joining the crowd.
According to his account, protesters would then have demanded that the “keys” to the presidential palace be handed over, something he insisted would have happened peacefully if the ruling Georgian Dream party had not staged a “provocation” against demonstrators near the Atoneli residence. He said he could not describe the incident in detail because he has been in custody and cut off from full information, but added that “the time to clarify this will come.”
Burchuladze argued that the gathering on Rustaveli, which opposition forces branded a “national assembly,” was a turning point. He claimed more than 250,000 people from almost every region of Georgia, including residents of Gali in Abkhazia and areas of South Ossetia, took part, along with members of all ethnic minorities living in the country. In his telling, the crowd adopted a declaration stating that power in Georgia belongs to the people, that the authorities had lost legitimacy after the 26 October, 2024, parliamentary elections, and that a “peaceful transitional period” had begun to restore democratic rule and reopen talks with the European Union.
He rejected accusations that he had called for violence, saying that on 4 October, he and others were on Rustaveli Avenue “with our children and grandchildren” and that everything they did was aimed at peaceful expression, a constitutional right. He accused Georgian Dream of trying to label patriotism as a crime while presenting what he called “betrayal of the homeland” as heroism.
The opposition singer also repeated claims that security services tried to conceal the scale of the rally. He said three media outlets’ drones were brought down over the protest zone and that at least one was later found with its memory card removed. In his view, this was done so that people would not see the true size of the crowd.
Prosecutors offered a very different picture. State prosecutor Tamar Bejuashvili told reporters that a forensic report on a fence near the Atoneli residence concluded it showed signs of damage caused by physical force, and specifically noted that there were no traces of cutting on the metal. She said the expert who drafted the report is listed as a witness for the prosecution and can be questioned in court by both sides.
Bejuashvili added that investigators have compiled more than 38 volumes of evidence in the case and have collected numerous video recordings from different angles, which she said clearly show violent actions by the defendants and others near the site. Asked by journalists whether the investigation would seek testimony from Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who has publicly spoken about having prior information regarding 4 October events, she replied that his post factum “political assessment” could not serve as a basis to summon him as a witness.
Burchuladze, Zodelava and Nadiradze face multiple serious charges, for attempting to seize and block strategic and especially important facilities as a group, organizing and leading group violence; and publicly calling for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order and the removal of state power, an offence that carries a possible sentence of up to nine years in prison.
