Lawyer Lasha Kapanadze has announced that he is withdrawing from defending the accused in the case involving an incident at a Telavi hotel, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Georgian Service reports. On July 18, during a wedding at the Agarani Estate in Kakheti, Giorgi Chighladze struck a Russian citizen during an altercation. Lasha Kapanadze was also a guest at the wedding and shares a longtime friendship with the accused.
“When a client fails to comply with the lawyer’s instructions that are necessary for the case and form part of an effective defense strategy, in such cases the lawyer is forced to withdraw, as a conflict of interest unambiguously arises,” Kapanadze wrote on Facebook.
Giorgi Chighladze did not comment to the media at any stage, including when the Telavi District Court released him on bail.
“I am always in contact with the media and consider it necessary,” the lawyer told RFE/RL. In a post published several hours earlier, he wrote: “Mariam and I want to once again express our immense gratitude to the Georgian people and journalists who have been by our side all this time, and for their major contribution to keeping Giorgi free.”
He declined to specify what exactly prompted his decision to stop defending Giorgi Chighladze.
What happened at the Telavi hotel:
- At the Agarani Estate hotel in Telavi, an argument between wedding guests and foreign women escalated into violence — a video uploaded to social media shows Giorgi Chighladze punching a woman in the face.
- On July 18, a wedding at the Agarani Estate hotel in Telavi ended in a confrontation between guests and foreign nationals staying in one of the hotel rooms. They had arrived from Russia.
- In a video circulating on social media — the opening frame of which features text in Russian reading: “In Georgia, men burst into women’s rooms and beat them for speaking Russian” — a man can be seen punching a woman in the face.
- Police detained Giorgi Chighladze on the same day, while Yulia Nesteryuk was taken to a clinic;
- A few hours before the court hearing, a post was published on Facebook on behalf of Giorgi Chighladze, stating: “I regret that this woman was injured, but I had no intent. Even an involuntary action taken during a conflict can cost anyone dearly, so I ask and urge everyone: try not to give in to provocations and do not act on momentary emotion caused by an insult”;
- On July 21, the Telavi court set bail at 5,000 GEL for the young man detained over the incident at the Agarani Estate hotel in Telavi.