Georgian opposition activist Gela Khasaia was released from prison on Tuesday morning after securing a plea deal in May. He was detained in 2025 after allegedly getting into a scuffle in Tbilisi alongside another person, Vasil Kerdikoshvili, who was also released under a similar plea deal.

Khasaia, 29, was met outside the prison by friends, family members, and other supporters following his release on Tuesday morning. The activist told reporters that ‘he would continue doing what he had been doing before his detention’, apparently referring to his anti-government activism.

‘I am serving a suspended sentence and they can send me back to prison for anything. I don’t want to romanticise prison, however, what I do is so important to me that I am not going to leave the country because of this, hide at home, or find something else to do’, he said, as quoted by RFE/RL.

Gela Khasaia was greeted by family members, friends and other supporters following his release on 29 October 2026. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media. 

Khasaia, a member of the opposition Girchi — More Freedom party, was detained on 29 September 2025, together with Kerdikoshvili. He was accused of attacking a man named Ramaz Chaduneli in Tbilisi, near Tamar Mepe Avenue, on 1 September. The investigation alleged that the defendants kicked Chaduneli and broke his wrist.

The two men were initially investigated for intentionally causing minor bodily harm, an offence punishable by up to three years in prison. The charge was later upgraded to intentionally causing less serious bodily harm as part of a group, which carries a prison sentence of four to six years.

While under arrest, Khasaia reported degrading treatment, including being completely stripped twice during searches. Prosecutor Mariam Tsulaia, who was handling the case, denied the activist had been subjected to inhumane treatment.

The defence disputed the classification of the charge, arguing soon after his detention that Khasaia was not present at the scene at the time of the alleged physical attack, but that he had witnessed a verbal altercation between men. The defence has not specified who was involved in this altercation, nor what prompted it. The defendants themselves have also claimed that they don’t know each other.

Gela Khasaia was greeted by family members, friends and other supporters following his release on 29 October 2026. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media. 

Eventually, the Prosecutor General’s Office agreed to a plea deal, the necessary precondition of which is pleading guilty. Khasaia and Kerdikoshvili were each sentenced to four years, including one year in prison, with the sentence counted from the date of their detention, and three years of a suspended sentence.

After his release, Khasaia said he agreed to a plea deal as his charges were not connected to his participation in protests.

‘Personally, I don’t care for a second if they call me an assailant. But they will not be able to use me for their propaganda. They will not be able to say that what I did was part of a protest, that [for example] I beat a police officer and admitted to it’, Khasaia said.

Khasaia’s colleagues have described his case as politically motivated from the outset.