Giorgi Kirvalidze, an athlete charged in the October 4, 2025 election-day unrest case, was detained on new criminal charges of contempt of court on October 16, as he was leaving a detention facility after serving a seven-day administrative sentence for swearing at Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. He faces up to two years in prison if convicted.
Video footage of Kirvalidze’s detention shows police officers reading out the detention report and placing handcuffs on him. The officers cite Part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code, which concerns insulting a judge and carries a penalty of a fine, corrective labor for one to two years, or imprisonment for up to two years.
Kirvalidze was among more than 60 defendants tried in connection with the October 4, 2025 unrest, and one of 34 who reached plea agreements with the prosecution. In September, however, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals annulled his plea agreement, ruling that he had not genuinely acknowledged his guilt. His case was returned to the first-instance court for renewed consideration, with the final sentence still pending.
Kirvalidze was subsequently sentenced to seven days of administrative detention on October 9 over his conduct during a June 24 hearing in the October 4 unrest case. During that hearing, he reportedly rejected a plea deal and swore at Ivanishvili at that hearing, but only after he had pleaded guilty and the judge had already issued the relevant ruling, leaving the plea agreement in force.
Audio footage of the October 9 administrative hearing, released by TV Pirveli, captures Kirvalidze swearing at Ivanishvili and calling Judge Tornike Kochkiani “Bidzina’s slave” and a “coward.” His latest detention appears to stem from this behavior.
Separately, several October 4 defendants, including Kakhaber Kvachantiradze, Giorgi Talakhadze, Davit Giunashvili, and Iuri Lomidze, left prison today after serving reduced prison terms through plea deals, consisting of one year in prison and a three-year suspended sentence.
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