Lawyer questions evidence handling in October protest case

A defence lawyer involved in the case related to the 4 October protest in Tbilisi has questioned the way key evidence was handled by the prosecution.

Speaking at the Tbilisi City Court, lawyer Irakli Abesadze said that the central piece of evidence in the case - a fence [of the presidential palace in central Tbilisi] whose collapse triggered the escalation of events - was not physically included in the case materials.

Abesadze noted forensic analysis was conducted not on the fence itself but on photographs of it. He claimed that the original object had effectively been removed from the case file.

Abesadze argued that this raised serious doubts about the integrity of the investigation and suggested that the fence may have been deliberately prepared to collapse. He described the incident as a provocation, alleging that the authorities sought to escalate the situation and subsequently prosecute demonstrators on serious charges.