"I have absolutely no connection to any of this. I don’t even know these people. Where are they from, my group members? They staged a miraculous concert, said detained businessman and former boxer Giorgi Kandelaki during a court hearing", Giorgi Kandelaki said.

He spoke about the circumstances of his detention:

“I don’t understand what’s going on at all. Yesterday or the day before, [Gori City Council member Boris Gogichaishvili’s] family members asked me to bring a lawyer to Tbilisi... They kicked me out of the yard three times; I was waiting, saying the person is unwell. They told me to leave and not make noise, even threatening to call the patrol. Then they said one of the superiors wanted to talk to me and that they would also show me to Boris. I went upstairs. In the midst of the argument and confrontation, this happened. I have absolutely no connection to any of this, I don’t even know these people. Where are they from, my group members? They staged a miraculous concert,” Kandelaki stated.

Notably, in the case against Giorgi Kandelaki, the testimony of detained Gori City Council member Boris Gogichaishvili is central. Gogichaishvili’s lawyer, Tamar Kuchava, spoke about this at today’s hearing, also proposing, considering Boris Gogichaishvili’s health condition, that the court apply a 50,000 GEL bail for her client.

“Mr. Boris is presented with a very serious illness and diagnosis. His cognitive functions are significantly impaired. The right to mandatory defense was evident... Boris Gogichaishvili couldn’t even fully recall his own residence. He was questioned at 2 a.m. without a lawyer. I can now read any paragraph from his testimony and ask him to repeat it. It is precisely his interrogation protocol that forms the basis of the charges against Giorgi Kandelaki.

Boris Gogichaishvili’s testimony is the only evidence against Kandelaki.

The only piece of evidence in the case is a photograph sent between these two individuals, depicting a bottle of alcohol, allegedly counterfeit.

As for Giorgi Bibilashvili, he worked as a factory worker.

Aleksandre Kurtanidze was signing various contracts,” stated Boris Gogichaishvili’s lawyer, Tamar Kuchava.

For reference, the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance seized 75,137 bottles of alcoholic beverages and 318,000 packs of untaxed cigarettes, in connection with which seven individuals, including Giorgi Kandelaki, were detained. They were charged under Articles 200 (parts 3 and 4) of the Criminal Code (production and storage of excisable goods subject to mandatory marking without an excise stamp by an organized group in particularly large quantities) and Article 196 (part 3) (production of goods illegally marked with another’s trademark or registered trade name in large quantities), which carry penalties of seven to ten years of imprisonment.

According to the investigation, since 2022, the accused, with the intent of illegally obtaining financial benefits, formed an organized criminal group.

They had set up infrastructure and full technical equipment for committing the crime on a leased plot of land in the city of Gori, where they systematically produced and stored alcoholic beverages—whiskey and vodka—subject to mandatory excise marking without excise stamps, for the purpose of their subsequent sale.

The detained individuals are: Giorgi Kandelaki, Boris Gogichaishvili, Tengiz Gulordava, Aleko Kurtanidze, Kartlos Jalabadze, Giorgi Bibilashvili, and Giorgi Kavtaradze