“The prosecution in this case has become Irakli Dgebuadze’s personal lawyer—every police officer’s interrogation report matches word-for-word, down to the punctuation. Not a single police officer was actually questioned; the investigator simply copied these statements. Therefore, the prosecution cannot rely on the police officers’ testimonies,” said Maia Mtsariashvili, the lawyer of Mzia Amaghlobeli, the founder of “Batumelebi,” during her closing statement in a criminal case before the court.

According to her, Mzia’s detention, arrest, and personal search were illegal.

“The government has never made so many statements on any case; the civilized world will be in shock. The prosecutor delivered their closing statement. After that, the Prime Minister again declared: ‘We must agree whether Mzia Amaghlobeli committed a crime.’ He is collectively calling for us to confess. A collective confession from Mzia, her lawyers, or her media outlets would be very pleasing to high-ranking government officials. The country’s Prime Minister says he won’t give anyone a chance to prove that Mzia didn’t commit a crime. The Prime Minister urges us not to talk about it, claiming these are political accusations. The Prime Minister says, ‘This is unequivocally a criminal act.’ Political accusations are being made. He calls for repentance, for confession. Mzia must confess. ‘Confess, and then we’ll talk’—what kind of procedure is the government offering? I’m astonished. Irakli Dgebuadze was insulting Mzia Amaghlobeli with obscene language, practically passing a verdict and imposing a sentence…

Today, I must deliver my closing statement, and the Prime Minister is closely following Mzia’s case step-by-step. Should I read my closing statement or respond to the Prime Minister?!

The prosecution in this case has turned into Irakli Dgebuadze’s personal lawyer—defending him and justifying the police’s criminal actions. The state prosecution is not Irakli Dgebuadze’s lawyer. Mzia Amaghlobeli’s trial, which lasted over five months, was neither fair during the investigation nor in court.

Every witness presented by the prosecution was directly subordinate to Dgebuadze, and when Dgebuadze himself came as a witness, he was personally escorted, as if under an honor guard. Neither any investigator nor prosecutor has seen Mzia Amaghlobeli, questioned her, or laid eyes on her. The case concluded with the investigators seeing Mzia in the courtroom. They then said, ‘We didn’t bother her only because she was on a hunger strike.’ The investigation against her began and ended without ever seeing her—maybe she would have confessed to the crime?! It was decided from the start when Dgebuadze threatened her. Why waste time in Rustavi’s penitentiary? That’s the reality.

The case was based on Berdia Feradze’s report: according to the report, during a protest rally, Mzia verbally insulted Dgebuadze and struck him in the face and ear area. The report does not mention any qualifying circumstances. At the previous hearing, it was argued that the investigation should have started under this article. The basis is solely the report, which says nothing except that Mzia caused physical insult to Dgebuadze. The investigation began under the article for attacking a police officer, which was a confirming circumstance that Dgebuadze would initiate a criminal investigation against her under the Criminal Code. I asked numerous questions during the trial about why the investigation started under this article, and they had no answers. From the beginning, the article was meant to persecute Mzia Amaghlobeli. Grigol Beselia is directly interested in this case. There were many police officers and journalists at the police building, but only masked police officers were questioned. At the same hearing, the prosecutor confirmed that identifying a masked police officer is impossible. They told the investigator, ‘I’m the masked officer in the footage,’ and the investigator didn’t bother to verify, just questioned them. Every interrogation report matches word-for-word, down to the punctuation. Not a single police officer was actually questioned; the investigator copied these statements. Therefore, the prosecution cannot rely on the police officers’ testimonies. This confirms that the investigation was not conducted in good faith in Mzia’s case. The investigation did not question public figures who were visible in public videos. Mzia’s detention, arrest, and personal search were illegal. Mzia Amaghlobeli neither insulted anyone before nor after putting up the sticker. It’s clear that Mzia silently puts up the sticker, Beselia approaches and detains her, and the case file claims Mzia called the police ‘dogs’ and ‘pigs’…

I got the impression that if the defense hadn’t worked, the prosecution would have had nothing. How did the prosecution act? They didn’t ask, didn’t investigate, and moved to exclude video evidence where Beselia is visible. This video evidence turned out to be a lifeline; the prosecution would have made us out to be blind and deaf. False witnesses would have told us fairy tales.

How can you imagine any investigator critically questioning Dgebuadze? The investigation doesn’t clarify whether Dgebuadze has a personal interest. I don’t rule out that the investigation didn’t even consider this possibility. The investigation didn’t obtain or present video footage reflecting the administrative action, despite the event being covered by multiple media outlets. If Mzia shouted ‘dogs’ and ‘pigs’ or resisted, wouldn’t it be natural for there to be an interest in obtaining footage from the police building or patrol crews? They didn’t find such footage because they didn’t look for it,” stated Maia Mtsariashvili.

For information, the investigation is charging Mzia Amaghlobeli under Article 353 of the Criminal Code, which pertains to an attack on a police officer and carries a penalty of 4 to 7 years of imprisonment. Mzia Amaghlobeli was initially detained under administrative procedures during a protest on January 11 near the main police department in Batumi and was released after about two hours. A few minutes after her release, she was detained again near the police department. Mzia Amaghlobeli slapped Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze, which was qualified as an attack on a police officer.