Tbilisi City Court Judge Tamar Mchedlishvili has found 19-year-old student Saba Jikia guilty of assaulting a police officer and sentenced him to 4 years and 6 months of imprisonment.
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Before the verdict was announced, Saba Jikia delivered his final statement:
"Friends, thank you all very much for your support and encouragement. This means a lot to us. It's motivation and a reminder that we are not alone.
'Friends' is a bit of an understatement; we've long become one family, united around a single goal. That goal is to get rid of this Russian regime, for which we are fighting relentlessly.
For us, trapped within four walls, it's hard to watch how they try to oppress you with every method, how they try to suppress free thought. But we also see how you protect each other, we see more free thought, which gives us hope that something will come of it...
We go to the trials, we wait 5-6 hours in the holding cell, because we know you are waiting for us here, and we want to show you that we are not afraid, we have not broken.
However, I still have an inner fear. I am afraid of defeat, because I don't want future generations to condemn us for this defeat.
I am afraid of defeat, because I don't want children to grow up in an unjust country and a dictatorship. Therefore, I will fight to the end, with whatever I can, for as long as I can.
It's strange to hear this from a 19-year-old boy, but it's true, my friends, I will not give up.
I’m not particularly happy about the fact that I have to go to prison for up to 4 to 7 years on absurd charges and spend my youth there, however my imprisonment also had its positives: I gained a big family, met great guys, learned the value of freedom, and understood the situation in the country.
And the best thing is, I'll have a very cool story to tell my grandchildren, and I won't be ashamed to tell it, because I know I stand on the right side of history."
Saba Jikia was arrested on December 5, 2024. The prosecution accused him of kicking an employee of the Special Tasks Department during a protest rally on Rustaveli Avenue on December 1. Jikia was charged under Article 353 Prima, Part 1 of the Criminal Code, which carries a penalty of 4 to 7 years of imprisonment.
Saba Jikia denies the charges. The special forces officer recognized as the victim, Beka Gotiashvili, stated during his court testimony that he had not sustained any injuries.
"Today's trial was a watershed moment, showing whether Tamar Mchedlishvili can make decisions independently. We saw her go out to deliberate, and I deliberately checked how long it would take to write the text she was reading. Ms. Mchedlishvili arrived with an already written verdict," stated Jikia's lawyer, Guja Avsajanishvili.
A week ago, on July 3, Judge Nino Galustashvili sentenced 21-year-old Giorgi Mindadze, charged under the same article, to 5 years of imprisonment. Before that, on June 12, the same judge found 21-year-old Mate Devidze guilty of assaulting a police officer and sentenced him to 4 years and 6 months of imprisonment.
