Civil activist Vakhtang Gagnidze, an active participant in the ongoing protests, was sentenced to 3 days of administrative detention by Judge Koba Chagunava.

According to Gagnidze’s lawyer, Dimitri Vardiashvili, the court considered several cases jointly, including allegations of artificially blocking a roadway and creating an obstruction for pedestrians on the sidewalk. Both offences fall under Article 174¹, paragraph 10 of the Code of Administrative Offences. The lawyer stated that Gagnidze was unable to attend the hearing due to his health condition. According to the same source, he suffers from severe pain and is simultaneously raising funds to cover medical treatment expenses.

Following the court’s decision, Gagnidze wrote on social media: “I could have avoided administrative detention for myself — you are aware of my surgeries and you also know that my rehabilitation is not going very well. But this is a different matter… When my friends are being detained on absurd charges  allegedly for restricting pedestrians on the sidewalk when my fellow protesters are imprisoned for years because of protest, I cannot run around holding a piece of paper and boast that ‘they cannot detain me, I am untouchable.’

There is another issue: I, who a month ago was facing the possibility of losing my leg and survived, now have to undergo rehabilitation in damp conditions. From a human perspective, this makes no sense  they could have given me some time to recover and then imposed detention. It’s alright  everything will be fine.”