According to Irakli Abesadze—the lawyer for Irakli Nadiradze, who was arrested in connection with the October 4 rally—Public Defender Levan Ioseliani has submitted an amicus curiae brief to the court calling for a review of the case involving Irakli Nadiradze and Lasha Beridze.

As Abesadze told InterPressNews, the Ombudsman argues that the accusation of organization of group violence against them is completely baseless and represents a decision made without legal evidence.

“Irakli Nadiradze has already been sentenced to seven years in prison by the court of first instance, having been found guilty of crimes under three articles of the Criminal Code. Anyone who reviews the verdict will realize that it rests on neither legal evidence nor logic; instead, it relies entirely on the Prosecutor's Office's political interpretation of the events that unfolded during the October 4th rally. In this context, the Public Defender’s submission of an amicus curiae brief to the Court of Appeal is noteworthy. Much like the case of Paata Manjgaladze, the Public Defender has now addressed the Court of Appeal regarding the cases of Irakli Nadiradze and Lasha Beridze. The brief argues that the charges of organization of group violence against them are completely baseless and that the conviction was reached without legal evidence. Furthermore, we do not believe that Irakli Nadiradze—or any of the other individuals convicted in this case—committed any crime under the remaining two articles either. In this regard, the Public Defender's opinion is certainly of interest. The Court of Appeal will have to refute the arguments not only of the defense lawyers but also of the Public Defender. It is worth recalling that a similar view was expressed in the final report of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, published in February of this year. They called on the authorities to cease prosecuting political opponents on charges of organizing group violence," stated Irakli Abesadze.

In his assessment, the arrest of Giorgi Baramidze—a leader of the National Movement—has once again confirmed that the authorities are fabricating charges against political opponents. "It is evident that the authorities are simply fabricating non-existent crimes against political opponents and leveling absurd charges—such as those we have seen brought against Giorgi Baramidze in recent days.

'It appears they are selecting serious articles from the Criminal Code in order to lock political opponents away in prison for as long as possible. The goal is to exert a chilling effect on the rest of society and attempt to intimidate the public. If faced with genuine resistance, the authorities are prepared to fabricate or trump up charges—crucially, under severe statutes—and impose long-term prison sentences on political opponents,' stated Irakli Abesadze."