"Now they’ll roll out propaganda that we should somehow be grateful, as if ‘Saint Bidzina’ and ‘Saint Murusidze’ are so merciful," said Sandro Tskhadadze, the brother of humorist Onise Tskhadadze, following the announcement of the verdict.

As he explained, this verdict does not mark the end, and they will continue their fight.

“For a week or more, I’ve been saying they would reclassify it to two years. Expecting a full release during the election period, when they’re trying to suppress protests, would be madness; on the contrary, it would fuel the protests. Now they’ll roll out propaganda that we should somehow be grateful, as if ‘Saint Bidzina’ and ‘Saint Murusidze’ are so merciful. They have no way back, and neither do we. The whole world is with us, while they have Bidzina’s illusory money. Everything will turn out as it should,” Sandro Tskhadadze stated.

As a reminder, the 11 individuals detained on charges of participating in organized group violence—Andro Chichinadze, Onise Tskhadadze, Jano Archaia, Ruslan Sivakov, Luka Jabua, Guram Mirtskhulava, Valeri Tetrashvili, Giorgi Terishvili, Irakli Qerashvili, Revaz Kiknadze, and Sergei Kukharchuk—were found not guilty of the original charge by the court. However, the charge was reclassified, and they were found guilty of participating in group actions.

Judge Nino Galustashvili sentenced each of the accused to two years of imprisonment.