Georgian speaker: Protesters convicted in 2024–2025 “prisoners of shamelessness”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has described 72 people convicted of crimes committed during protests in 2024–2025 as “prisoners of shamelessness.”

He said those people were blind weapons in the hands of those irresponsible people who first convinced them that breaking the law in the name of revolution was an act of heroism, Caliber.Az reports, citing Georgian media.

According to him, during the protests, they were sent to the barricades, and when the revolution failed and it was time to take responsibility, they themselves calmly stayed behind the barricades.

“Revolutions need victims. Especially a failed revolution. And it was these people who ended up playing the role of those victims — those who were easiest to incite and exploit,” Papuashvili added.

Criminal proceedings were launched against around 100 people over crimes committed during violent protests.

At present, 45 of them are free: some reached plea agreements after admitting guilt, while others were pardoned by the president.

Another 72 people remain in detention.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov