Six people convicted in connection with the 4 October events have been released from prison after reaching plea agreements with the prosecution.

Publika reported from the scene as Kakhaber Kvachantiradze, Giorgi Talakhadze, Davit Giunashvili, Yuri Lomidze, Mikheil Tolaraia, and Gia Tolaraia left Gldani Prison after one year.

The Prosecutor’s Office had accused all of participating in organised group violence. On 14 June they all reached plea agreements and were sentenced to one year of imprisonment and three years of probation.

Speaking to TV Pirveli after leaving prison, Kvachantiradze said he wished freedom for all political prisoners and other people he described as ‘patriotic and decent’. He also expressed hope that an amnesty would be granted to people who considered their detention unjust.

‘I won’t say anything new — the whole country knows what kind of government we have. Sometimes a tactical retreat is necessary to achieve a strategic goal, Kvachantiradze said.

Meanwhile, professional boxer Giorgi Kirvalidze, a defendant in the 4 October case, was detained again after completing a seven-day administrative arrest and leaving the Gurjaani detention facility.

In a video published by activists, he can be heard being accused of violating article 366(2) of Georgia’s criminal code, which concerns insulting a judge. The offence is punishable by a fine, corrective labour for one to two years, or imprisonment for up to two years.

Kirvalidze was sentenced to seven days of administrative arrest for insulting Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party. In response to the ruling, he addressed the judge, Tornike Kochkiani, saying: ‘You are an ordinary slave, Bidzina’s slave’. TV Pirveli reported that Kirvalidze also insulted Ivanishvili again during the same hearing.

Kirvalidze, along with more than 30 other defendants in the 4 October case, had requested plea agreements with the prosecution. Under the terms of his agreement, he was sentenced to one year in prison and three years of probation.

However, in late August, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals annulled the plea agreement at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office. During the appeal hearing, Kirvalidze said his remarks during the plea agreement proceedings had been made in a moment of agitation.

Kirvalidze had been charged with participating in group violence and attempting to seize and blockade a facility of strategic or special importance.

The 4 October protest was timed to take place with the widely boycotted municipal elections. Months prior to the elections, some opposition figures promised to end Georgian Dream’s 13-year rule in a single day, but did not announce any concrete plans.

The protest was billed as a ‘peaceful revolution’ meant to achieve what months of leaderless protests could not.

Initially, the campaigners’ efforts seemed to pay off. On the day, tens of thousands gathered in central Tbilisi, briefly reviving the dwindling daily protests.

Chaos soon followed: opera singer and opposition figure Paata Burchuladze declared that power belonged to the people, and opposition politician Murtaz Zodelava called for a march on the nearby Presidential Palace. A small group then breached a section of the palace fence, but was quickly pushed back by riot police, sparking sporadic clashes.

The crowd split, frustration spread, and the rally fizzled out.

The ruling party quickly seized on the Presidential Palace episode to once again attack the anti-government movement, branding it, as many times before, a violent, foreign-orchestrated coup attempt.