Tbilisi protester sentenced to four years in prison

Archil Muselyants, accused of damaging the power supply of cameras installed near the parliament and setting fire to them, has been found guilty.

As reported by "Kavkazsky Uzel", on August 15, a court in Tbilisi sentenced musician David Khomeriki, who was detained at a protest with Molotov cocktails, to four years and six months in prison.

Archil Muselyants, who was detained during the protests and accused of intentionally damaging and setting fire to the power supply system of cameras installed on a pole in front of the parliament building, was found guilty by the court and sentenced to four years in prison. The verdict was announced in the Tbilisi City Court today.

29-year-old Muselyants was initially detained administratively during a protest on Rustaveli Avenue on November 30, 2024. Lawyer Dimitri Vardiashvili said that he had been looking for him in various detention centers for several days, and when he finally found him in the third precinct of Digomi, Muselyants had already been detained on a criminal case.

Archil Muselyants was charged under Article 187 of the Criminal Code, which provides for damage to someone else's property. The charge provides for a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 3 to 6 years. This article provides for a punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 3 to 6 years, however, taking into account Museliants' criminal record, the court added one year to the minimum term and sentenced the defendant to 4 years in prison.

It should be noted that Museliants was accused of intentionally damaging and setting fire to the cameras' power supply system in order to make it impossible to identify the rally participants.

"I will no longer pay attention to the suffering and torture that I endured, because it is in the case, there are many protocols of my interrogation, where I explained in detail how they got my signatures, what they scared me with, what they blackmailed me with, what they threatened me with"

"The shirt that was covered in blood was not included in the material evidence. They did not include it because it was covered in blood from the beating," Archil Museliani said in his closing remarks, which was quoted by the Tbilisi Telegram channel life.

Note that since November 28, 2024, protesters in Tbilisi have been holding daily rallies outside the Georgian Parliament and blocking traffic along Rustaveli Avenue, demanding the release of all arrested supporters of European integration and the appointment of new parliamentary elections.

"Caucasian Knot" has published a report "The Main Thing About the Persecution of Protesters in Georgia". "Caucasian Knot" has collected materials about the parliamentary elections and the protests that followed them on the page "Elections in Georgia-2024".