Trial to be held at Tbilisi City Court as one charged for attacking opposition politician Berdzenishvili

A trial is expected to be held at Tbilisi City Court on Wednesday as one individual, Irakli Khomasuridze, was charged on June 6 with violent persecution of opposition politician Davit Berdzenishvili in connection with his political activities.

The prosecution said that they would demand pretrial custody for the suspect.

The Republican Party leaders Khatuna Samnidze and Davit Berdzenishvili were attacked on Rustaveli Avenue in central Tbilisi earlier this week.

Berdzenishvili said that the attackers told him that he and his brother were “cursing the Georgian King Erekle”.

Davit Berdzenishvili’s brother, former politician and professor Levan Berdzenishvili, has recently criticized the Georgian king for signing a treaty with Russia back in 1783 which angered the part of the public.

Head of the Georgian Dream ruling party, Irakli Kobakhidze, also slammed the brother Berdzenishvili for “fighting against Georgia’s identity and values.”

Samnidze responded by saying that the Georgian Dream leadership “was encouraging violence.”