“Besides being colleagues, Andro Chichinadze and I are united by shared values. I don’t remember which day it was, but Andro told me that information had leaked from the State Security Service (SSS) about a list of people to be arrested, and he was on it. I told him that if it was true, he should avoid trouble, but he said, ‘No, I’m not afraid,’ and we went to the protests every day,” stated actor Giga Datiashvili during a court hearing.

He is testifying in the case of actor Andro Chichinadze, humorist Onise Tskhadadze, and nine other individuals accused of participating in group violence. Datiashvili is a witness for the defense.

As the actor explained, these people were detained for expressing their free will. He recalled his relationship with Chichinadze.

Datiashvili noted that he met Chichinadze at university, and they performed together at the Vaso Abashidze New Theater.

“We both have children, and our starting point is ensuring a future for our children, which we see as possible through the European Union. When this was threatened, we joined the protest rallies,” Datiashvili stated.

He spoke in detail about what happened and how events unfolded during the protest rallies.

“The rally escalated when the so-called ‘robocops’ appeared and replaced the patrol officers. They began directly and purposefully insulting the rally participants, cursing at us and threatening us with arrest. There were responses from the crowd—some probably responded to insults with insults. That’s how the situation developed. The black-masked individuals escalated the situation. The so-called ‘robocops’ were accompanied by ‘running people’ who beat up protesters, threw them back, and I helped carry the injured to ambulances. It was strange that on November 29, almost no one was detained—they would grab people, beat them, and throw them back. This is a strange fact, and it was very painful to witness everything.

I saw an incident where one person picked up something and threw it toward the law enforcement officers. A conflict started, they unmasked the person, and one of them said, ‘Don’t you work at the Didube police?’ He didn’t deny it, saying, ‘If I’m a policeman, why are you hitting me?’” Datiashvili stated.

He also clarified that Andro Chichinadze was helping people injured by the actions of the special forces and often went toward them, putting himself at risk.

“Andro often slipped away from us, went up, and stood with the special forces… That day, he came down and showed me his leg, saying, ‘A special forces officer hit me with a Sarajishvili bottle, and my ankle hurts.’ Thank you, Andro, and the guys, for being such citizens.

Besides being colleagues, we are united by shared values. I don’t remember which day it was, but Andro told me that information had leaked from the SSS about a list of people to be arrested, and he was on it. I told him that if it was true, he should avoid trouble, but he said, ‘No, I’m not afraid,’ and we went to the protests every day. Andro could have left the country immediately, and a guilty person might have done so, but he hadn’t done anything illegal. Andro never wore a mask. I always scolded him to wear a gas mask or at least a face mask—not to hide his face, but because they were firing gas canisters, and he was breathing without protection.

Those who know Andro know he is the most composed person. I’m the explosive one; I might curse at someone, which is nothing to be proud of. I never even heard Andro curse—only something like, ‘How did these people get away with it?’—that’s the most you’d hear from him,” Datiashvili stated.

Prosecutors questioned the actor. In response to Vaja Todua’s question about whether he had seen a video where Andro Chichinadze was performing a certain action, the actor replied that he had seen many videos of Andro Chichinadze.

“In that video, he’s not doing what these people are accused of. He’s accused of intentionally harming law enforcement officers as part of a group, isn’t he? He’s not harming anyone,” the actor stated. When the prosecutor asked again what Chichinadze was doing in the video, Datiashvili responded that it was their job to prove it and added that he “had not seen Andro throwing anything.”

The prosecutor played a video from the case for Giga Datiashvili.

“This video is recorded by the police, and I can hear their cursing… I don’t know if that’s Andro Chichinadze or not; I can’t tell,” Datiashvili stated.

For reference, during the protest rallies near the Parliament, 11 individuals were detained on charges of participating in group violence.

The detained individuals—Andro Chichinadze, Onise Tskhadadze, Jano Archaia, Ruslan Sivakov, Luka Jabua, Guram Mirtskhulava, Valeri Tetrashvili, Giorgi Terishvili, Irakli Kerashvili, Revaz Kinadze, and Sergei Kukarchuk—were 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 imprisonment ranging from 4 to 6 years.