"I can bring you my laptop and phone, and together with my lawyer, open the chat for you anywhere you want. You will not find any contact with these people [the other defendants]." — This is what comedian Onise Tskhadadze, who was arrested during a protest rally, told the witness-investigator during a court hearing.

At today’s hearing, the witness being questioned was investigator Arsen Khunashvili, who is the lead investigator in the case involving 11 individuals.

"I can bring you my laptop and phone, and together with my lawyer, open the chat for you anywhere. You will not find any contact between me and any of these people [the other defendants]. I’m saying this because you still don’t have the results of the forensic examination. You also won’t find any connection from other people’s side either. I haven’t seen any of the videos, except for a brief two-second clip on Imedi — of Kasradze and... [another defendant] — I saw that in prison, and I couldn’t do anything about it. In my opinion, those videos are also complete nonsense.

Finally, I want to ask you a moral question — 11 and another 8 people have been arrested, including minors and adults. We’ve been in prison for a long time. Morally and as a human being, do you feel any responsibility? What in my video is criminal?" — Onise Tskhadadze asked the investigator.

The investigator responded that the video shows objects being thrown.

"[It shows] objects being thrown. Also, Archaya was throwing a heavy object," said Arsen Khunashvili.

In response to this statement, the defendants unanimously pointed out that no such video had been presented at the hearing, and they questioned why the witness claimed that “heavy objects were being thrown.”

For context, during the recent protest rallies near Parliament, 11 individuals were arrested on charges of participating in group violence.

The detainees — Andro Chichinadze, Onise Tskhadadze, Jano Archaia, Ruslan Sivakov, Luka Jabua, Guram Mirtskhulava, Valeri Tetrashvili, Giorgi Terishvili, Irakli Kerashvili, Revaz Kiknadze, and Sergei Kukharchuk — were charged under Article 225, Part 2 of the Georgian Criminal Code, which refers to participation in group violence.

This offense carries a penalty of 4 to 6 years of imprisonment.