“For an entire hour in the doctor’s office, I relentlessly belittled, mocked, and labeled as ignorant and uneducated everyone who considered 16 years of one-party rule and dictatorship normal and loved the oligarch Bidzina. The doctor punished me by not giving me medicine, but when I looked at his face, he seemed more like the one punished,” wrote Rezo Kiknadze in a letter from prison, where he is currently detained following his arrest during protests near the Parliament.

As noted in the letter, he got into a physical altercation in his cell due to the intensive switching to “Kotsi” (Georgian Dream-aligned) TV channels and listening to Russian songs, as a result of which he was punished and has been without a cellmate for two weeks.

“Fight against injustice and darkness wherever you can reach: at work, on transport, in shops... My sphere of action has been limited, but wherever and however I can, I try to speak out against what is wrong, even if it makes me hated by many. In the local ‘Kotsi’ doctor’s office, I spent a whole hour relentlessly belittling, mocking, and calling ignorant and uneducated everyone who considered 16 years of one-party rule and dictatorship normal and loved the oligarch Bidzina. The doctor punished me by not giving me medicine, but when I looked at his face, he seemed more like the one punished. In the cell, I got into a physical fight because of the intensive switching to ‘Kotsi’ channels and listening to Russian songs. Of course, I banned both of these immoral things. They punished me by leaving me without a cellmate for two weeks. It’s tough, but I’ll endure,” Kiknadze writes.

In the letter, he also mentions that patriots like Antsukhelidze give him motivation and strength. According to him, it is unacceptable for Russians to triumph in a country where Merab Kostava and Antsukhelidze lived.

“They kicked me out of the courtroom last time for mentioning Ambrosius Khelaia, saying it was unrelated to my case. Ambrosius was a Catholicos who spent his entire life fighting against the Russification of the Georgian Church... Sometimes nihilism and the urge to complain creep up on me, but then I immediately think of Merab Kostava, what he went through, how much he endured, and I don’t allow myself to complain or grumble. It is precisely patriots like Merab and Antsukhelidze who give me motivation and strength. It is unacceptable for Russians to triumph in a country where they lived, and they will not triumph! That witch says: ‘A life doomed to futility’—his life is the futile one. Even after death, he will only be remembered with curses, no one will toast to him, and no one will bring flowers to his grave. Kostava and Antsukhelidze will always be immortal,” writes Rezo Kiknadze in the letter dated July 17.

For information, Rezo Kiknadze was detained during the protest rallies near the Parliament. He has been charged under Article 225, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which pertains to participation in group violence. This offense carries a penalty of 4 to 6 years of imprisonment.