Tornike Toshkhua and Mindia Shervashidze, arrested on charges of group violence in front of Parliament, were sentenced to pre-trial detention by Tbilisi City Court Judge Eka Barbakadze.

The judge upheld the prosecution’s motion for imprisonment and rejected the defense’s request for bail.

Defense lawyer Omar Purtseladze accused the prosecutor’s office of falsifying evidence. He claimed that the knife used by the victim, Beka Gotsiridze, to attack the defendants and their companions was removed from the case. According to him, video evidence obtained in one day—but ignored by the prosecution for two weeks—shows the victim attacking with a knife, a patrol officer seizing it, and a witness signing a statement. Purtseladze argued that the victim, a supporter of the ruling party, had threatened the defendants for three months and was being protected for political reasons.

Prosecutor Nino Zhvania dismissed these accusations as baseless, stating that the videos seized show the opposite: the defendants attacking the victim, who had no knife.

Toshkhua and Shervashidze were arrested on August 16 in connection with an incident that took place on August 1 on Rustaveli Avenue. The investigation is underway under Article 126, Part 1, Subparagraph “b” of the Criminal Code, which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.