“Suddenly, the local staff came in and shouted, ‘C вещами’ [with your belongings]. We were all shocked, including me. We simply couldn’t believe it,” said Davit Khomeriki in his first comments after being released from prison under a presidential pardon. Khomeriki had been detained during the protests on charges of preparing an explosion.

According to him, he took a taxi home, but the taxi driver did not charge him for the ride.

“It was around 8:30. Deep down, everyone has the expectation that they will leave the place earlier than expected and soon embrace their family members.

“Andro Chichinadze was with me, Irakli Miminoshvili — our smiling guy. Giorgi Mchedlishvili, you probably don’t know him at all; he was with me too.

“It took about 15 minutes to complete everything. Then they were rushing me. I wanted to stay for another two minutes because I wanted to say goodbye to the guys. Then we moved to the administration building, where they had us sign some documents, and then they took us outside. We passed through the gate, passed the barrier, and that was it.

“I took a taxi to my neighborhood. I had no money, and the taxi driver took me for free. When I arrived, I called up to my brother from downstairs, ‘Zuka!’ and there was a huge commotion upstairs — ‘Who is it?’ It shook the whole neighborhood. My father didn’t hear it because he was at a church service,” Davit Khomeriki told TV Pirveli. His father is a clergyman.

For reference, Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili pardoned 226 people on the occasion of the Dormition of the Mother of God (Mariamoba) holiday.

Among those pardoned were Avtandil Topchishvili and Tornike Mchedlishvili, who had been detained in connection with the October 4 case, as well as Fridon Bubuteishvili, Davit Khomeriki, Simon Makharadze, Saba Jikia, Guram Khutashvili, Daniel Mumladze and Denis Kulanin, who had been detained during the protest rallies.