Georgia Announces First Arrests Over Police Abuses During 2024 Protests
Georgian prosecutors announced arresting three and identifying two more suspects already in jail over violence against journalist Guram Rogava, politician Levan Khabeishvili, and protester Zviad Maisashvili, marking the first arrests of those allegedly involved in police abuses during the 2024-2025 protests.
At a May 7 briefing, Prosecutor General Giorgi Gvarakidze said those identified include three former and one current officers of the Interior Ministry Special Tasks Department. He said two of the accused were already in custody on separate criminal and administrative cases, while three were detained today. None of the suspects was named, but the Prosecutor’s office identified them with the initials – G.K. (Rogava case), Z. Ch., A.B. (Khabeishvili case), and T.B. and G.B (Maisashvili case) the next day.
All five suspects will be charged under Article 333, Part 3(b) of Georgia’s Criminal Code, which concerns exceeding official authority with the use of violence. The suspect in the Rogava case will also be charged under Article 154, Part 2, for unlawfully obstructing a journalist’s professional activities through violence. The charges carry prison sentences of five to eight years, according to Gvarakidze.
Speaking about protester Maisashvili’s case, Gvarakidze said that on November 30, 2024, “two then-employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Tasks Department, one of whom is currently an employee of the Security Police Department, physically assaulted Zviad Maisashvili, causing him to lose consciousness.”
The incident, which circulated widely on social media and television, took place near Tbilisi’s Opera and Ballet Theater during the pro-EU protests. Footage filmed live by Teona Chalidze of the opposition party Strategy Aghmashenebeli showed Maisashvili lying on the ground as officers repeatedly kicked him, including in the head and face. He was later hospitalized. The footage became one of the defining images of the crackdown on protesters, sparking public outrage.
Gvarakidze then addressed the assault on Khabeishvili, saying that on April 30, 2024, “a then-employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Tasks Department, who currently serves as head of one of the divisions of the State Security Service’s Special Operations Department, together with another employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Tasks Department, physically assaulted Levan Khabeishvili.”
Khabeishvili, then-Chair of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party, currently in jail, was severely beaten by police during the April 30-May 1 protests against the Foreign Agents law. He sustained multiple bruises and lacerations on his face, a severely injured eye, and a broken nose, and went through a lengthy rehabilitation process.
The Prosecutor General also addressed the case of journalist Guram Rogava, saying an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Task Department physically assaulted him on November 29, 2024, while he was carrying out his professional duties.
Gvarakidze said prosecutors and investigators had carried out “thousands of investigative and procedural actions” in connection with the cases, including interviews with more than 550 witnesses. He added that the investigation remains ongoing and aims to identify “persons involved in other acts of violence.”
The announcement comes two days after opposition-leaning Formula TV aired an investigation identifying the officer allegedly responsible for the violent assault on its then-journalist Rogava during the November 29, 2024, protest dispersal on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue. The channel identified the officer only by initials, I. Sh., saying he was 21 years old at the time of the attack. Rogava, as well as Formula journalist Eliso Jariashvili, who prepared the report, later said they were summoned by prosecutors for questioning.
The reported arrests come amid longstanding concerns voiced by local and international human rights watchdogs, as well as Georgia’s public defender, over Georgia’s failure to hold a single police officer accountable despite numerous documented abuses against protesters during the 2024 dispersals and while jailing dozens of demonstrators on protest-related charges.
Georgian officials, while eventually acknowledging some of the abuses, attributed the lack of prosecutions to an inability to identify the uniformed suspects.
Last updated: May 8, 17:00 Tbilisi time.
Also Read:
- 21/04/2026 – CoE Commissioner Calls for Police Accountability, Repeal of ‘Foreign Influence’ Laws After Georgia Visit
- 11/08/2025 – SJC Seeks Criminal Accountability of MIA Officials Over Late-2024 Protest Dispersals
- 02/04/2025 – World Organisation Against Torture: GD Coordinated State Policy of Repression Against Protesters