Special forces officers convicted of assaulting protesters jailed for five years each
Special forces officers jailed for assaults
A court has sentenced special forces officers convicted of physically assaulting journalist Guram Rogava and protester Zviad Maisashvili during demonstrations in November and December 2024 to five years in prison each.
The special forces officer convicted of assaulting Guram Rogava, a journalist with Formula TV, was also banned from professional duties for three years. Lasha Gamkrelidze, the new prosecutor in the case, informed the journalist of the verdict by telephone.
According to Formula, Rogava had expected to testify as a victim during the trial. However, the prosecutor explained that his testimony was unnecessary because the court and the defence had accepted the charges as undisputed. Rogava himself believes that the person who directly assaulted him remains at large.
Two other special forces officers arrested in connection with the assault on Zviad Maisashvili were each sentenced to five years in prison. Lawyer Dimitri Mchedlishvili confirmed the information to Tabula.
On 30 November 2024, at around 06:30, special forces officers kicked Zviad Maisashvili in the face during a protest on Rustaveli Avenue, causing him to lose consciousness. Footage of the assault circulated on social media.
On 7 May 2026, Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had identified and detained five people in connection with assaults on Rogava, Maisashvili and opposition politician Levan Khabeishvili.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, four of those detained were current or former special forces officers, while the fifth was a serving officer with the Interior Ministry’s Security Police Department. Two of the suspects were already serving prison sentences at the time of their arrest.
Prosecutors said that on 29 November 2024, during a protest on Rustaveli Avenue, an officer from the Interior Ministry’s Special Tasks Department assaulted Guram Rogava while the journalist was carrying out his professional duties.
The detainees were charged under Article 333(3) of the Criminal Code with abuse of official powers involving violence. The officer detained in connection with the assault on Rogava also faced an additional charge of unlawfully obstructing a journalist’s professional activities.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office’s initial statement, the charges carried prison sentences of five to eight years.
Maisashvili said both special forces officers detained over the assault on him had admitted their guilt and apologised to him.
Background
The assaults on Guram Rogava and Zviad Maisashvili were among several high-profile incidents of police violence during pro-European protests in Tbilisi in November and December 2024.
The protests began on 28 November 2024, after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that the government would take the issue of opening EU accession talks off the agenda until the end of 2028.
In the following days, law enforcement officers used water cannon, tear gas and other crowd-control measures against protesters on Rustaveli Avenue and near the parliament building. Numerous incidents of physical violence against demonstrators, journalists and human rights defenders were documented.
Both protesters and members of the media sustained injuries during the demonstrations. The assault on journalist Guram Rogava attracted particular attention. On 29 November 2024, a special forces officer attacked Rogava while he was reporting live from Rustaveli Avenue, leaving him seriously injured.
Media representatives and human rights organisations called for investigations into these incidents. On 30 November 2024, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said the police’s use of water cannon, pepper spray and batons, including against peaceful demonstrators and journalists, had been disproportionate.
According to Georgia’s Public Defender’s 2024 report, the ombudsman and his representatives visited 624 people who had been detained or injured during protests between 15 April 2024 and 1 March 2025. Of those, 360 reported ill-treatment.
The report also noted that no police officers had been held accountable for violence committed by law enforcement personnel during that period.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office statement of 7 May 2026, more than 550 witnesses were questioned and thousands of investigative and procedural actions were carried out as part of the investigations into the cases involving Zviad Maisashvili, Levan Khabeishvili and Guram Rogava.
The Prosecutor’s Office said the investigations would continue to identify other possible perpetrators and bring them to justice.
