Tbilisi City Court ruled imprisonment in absentia for Irakli Shaishmelashvili, the former Head of the Operational Planning Unit at the Interior Ministry’s Special Tasks Department.

The Prosecution argued that there was a threat of escape, the recurrence of crime, and the destruction of evidence, which Judge Lela Maridashvili completely agreed with.

According to the investigation, several days ahead of the October 4 municipal elections, Irakli Shaishmelashvili made public calls for the overthrow of the government and constitutional order with violence. He also attempted to demoralize MIA officers and urged them not to hinder those involved in violent acts from achieving their goals, which were aimed at violently changing the constitutional order of Georgia and overthrowing the state government.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) arrested sixteen more individuals in connection with the October 4 events, bringing the total number of detainees to 62. Additionally, criminal proceedings have been initiated against two individuals currently abroad, one of whom is Irakli Shaishmelashvili (the former Head of the Operational Planning Unit at the Interior Ministry’s Special Tasks Department).

Irakli Shaishmelashvili quit and left Georgia alongside his family in connection with the November-December 2024 events in Tbilisi. He wrote about his being in exile on December 26 on social networks.