March 28, 2025, Georgian Parliament Building. At the session of the Georgian Dream parliamentary investigative commission, General Mamuka Kurashvili is being asked questions regarding the August 2008 war. Short excerpts from the commission session shared on social networks are causing outrage among some of the population. An evening protest is planned at the Memorial to the Heroes Who Died in the Fight for the Unity of Georgia: “Glory to the Heroes — End the Traitorous Regime.” The organizers of the rally say that: “The regime is trying to rewrite history,” “The Georgian people will never allow our history and the names of our heroes to be tarnished by order of Russia,” and that “blaming generals and soldiers is a betrayal of Georgia.”
Activist Tamar Kuratishvili was also supposed to join the rally at Heroes’ Square. At first, she was in the office, preparing a large banner specifically for this gathering. While working, she learned that citizens had started gathering earlier near the parliament. Georgian Dream’s so-called investigative commission session was still ongoing in the parliament building. Tea Tsulukiani was addressing the general, a participant in the August War:
"Stupid statements are made by the stupid, are you stupid?"
"Don't interrupt me! Yesterday, as the chairman of the commission, I let a lot of things pass. I let their tone pass. So, let's all be smart now, all together, and don't let me see you raise your voice at me again. If you come in uniform — first of all, respect the uniform. Is that clear?"
"Don't think of anyone [...] as less of a man than you, period."
For Tamar, what was happening in the parliament building was disrespect for the heroes who died in the August war. She couldn’t stay in the office anymore. She put away the large banner, and wrote on a smaller one — “Antsukhelidze is immortal” and rushed towards the parliament. Within a few hours, Tamar was arrested. Soon, more people came out with similar posters.
Photo: LEVAN ZAZADZE
Tamar Kuratishvili’s resistance and protest does not begin or end with the episode of the March 28 arrest. She was still a student when she expressed her protest against Russia. She still remembers the August war, Gavrilov’s night and the people’s reaction. Aprili Media spoke to Tamar about activism, the anti-occupation movement and forms of protest.
Antsukhelidze is Immortal
“That was what everyone was saying and everyone was feeling at that moment… our heroes were practically being discredited right before our eyes,” Tamar recalls.
She tells us that when she arrived at the parliament, she saw a crowd gathered on one side of the street, surrounded by a police cordon. That is why she stood on the opposite side of the street, on the parliament side, on the footpath with a banner that read “Antsukhelidze is immortal.” The police did not approve of Tamar’s protest separately.
“The police forcibly took me to the other side. I kept asking why they weren’t allowing me to stand there. No one explained why they were restricting my movement. I stood up and moved back, at which point they took me back to the protesters’ side and told me that if I wanted to protest, I should protest there.”
Mariam Takidze / Aprili Media
Tamar considered this instruction from the police officers to be unreasonable. She wanted to make her point clear, so she moved once again to the side of the parliament and tried to stand a little lower, where there would be no police officers or other activists nearby. She tells us that within a few seconds she heard: “Arrest her”, and saw how the police officers ran towards her to carry out the order. She says that she faced the arrest calmly.
“There was absolutely nothing unimaginable about it for me. When I go to a demonstration, I know that all my freedom of expression may be restricted, I am ready for that… I feel a power inside that gives me strength. I know that I am right, that the truth is on my side, and that is why I practically never feel fear at demonstrations. I obey legal demands, but not illegal demands.”
After her arrest, Tamar was taken to the Dighomi police station, her belongings were confiscated, and she assumed that she would be placed in an isolation cell there as well. For 5 hours, she was not allowed to contact her lawyer, family members, or her minor child. That is why she believes she was kidnapped. Five hours later, Tamar was told that she would be released on the basis of a written statement.
“When they told me that they were releasing me if I wrote a statement, and I didn’t react to it, they joked, saying, ‘I guess you’re not happy. Whether they release me or not, no decision on their part would be legal… Today, I already have an inner feeling that it doesn’t matter where I am. I know that I must somehow resist this dictatorship that has been established in the state. And freedom is an inner feeling, which our political prisoners prove to us.”
Tamar believes that an activist who joins demonstrations has different obligations and forms of expression than ordinary citizens. She recalls the evening when the police took away the chairs they had brought from the students who had come to the parliament and detained them. She says that when she heard about this news, she took a chair from her office, went to the parliament and sat on it there. Even then, she expected that the police would consider this form of expression illegal and would come to her, even though she had every right to do so by law.
August War
“We put our ears to the ground and listened as our territories were bombed,” Tamar recalls of the August 2008 war. She was 17 at the time. She spent the summer in the village of Sachkhere. She tells us that she will never forget the war, because she still remembers the pain she experienced then.
“The emotions of the August War have not dissipated in society. Every year we encountered new contradictions. It is impossible not to remember Grandpa Data, who is also a symbol of this contradiction; it is impossible not to remember the crossing of the “border”, not to remember the kidnapped people… and now they suddenly tell us that the August War should be reevaluated and that we should say that we started the war on our own territory. For me, this was a rejection of both our homeland and our heroes, the tragic death of our heroes.”
She says that she is always ready to face injustice and resist. Especially when it comes to relations between Russia and Georgia or war. For her, the war is not over and is still ongoing, although this time the line runs along Rustaveli Avenue.
“Georgia, in fact, has not been a free state and we have not lived in a free state, although we have to fight year after year to maintain our independence. In this fight, I hope to see a free Georgia, but at this stage I take it for granted that this country will somehow maintain its independence. I am motivated by the events of April 9, and when I go to a demonstration, this phrase always comes to mind: “Not a single step back, we have sworn an oath!” — We have sworn an oath to preserve and protect our statehood. This is what I carry every day, and it doesn’t matter whether I carry this feeling in the form of a flag, a poster, or a chair.”
Activism
Tamar has been expressing her protest against Russia since childhood. She recalls her school days, when she crossed out the Russian inscription on a green-covered, 12-page notebook and rewrote it in Georgian on top — notebook. The protest and expression continued in various forms over the years. However, she considers Gavrilov’s Night to be one of the decisive episodes.
Mariam Takidze / Aprili Media
“It is very difficult for me to remember this day. I will never forget the anger I felt when I saw a Russian sitting in the chair of the Speaker of the Parliament. This anger lasted for a long time.”
A few months after Gavrilov’s Night, Tamar moved to Batumi. There, she continued to work on anti-occupation issues. She says that during the four years she spent in Batumi, both the involvement and expression of people in protests, as well as the response from police forces, have changed.
“These four years of living in Batumi have given me a lot of experience, including because I always thought about the content. One thing is what I myself am ready for, but another is how ready the entire society is to protest in the same content or form. In reality, resistance requires learning. Internal anger will not always be able to resist, and I think that my relocation to the region has yielded good results.”
She was first arrested in Batumi. On November 13, 2021, she planned to hold a rally with her associates near the SUS building, but the police did not allow them to film, gather, or unfurl a banner. Tamar was arrested and spent 48 hours in solitary confinement.
“I was kidnapped for about 9 hours. No one knew about my whereabouts. I was arrested in Batumi and taken to Ozurgeti. I was not given the opportunity to talk to my child, while she was alone.”
The Ministry of Internal Affairs charged Tamar with petty hooliganism and disobeying the lawful requests of police officers, but the judge acquitted her.
Over the past years, as the forms of protest have diversified, laws have become more restrictive, and the behavior of police forces has also changed. Tamar recalls that there was a period when, while planning demonstrations, it was possible to have a dialogue with the police. For example, activists would tell the police chief about the action, where they planned to set up a stage or march, and they would also hope for help in case of conflict. Now everything has changed.
Mariam Takidze / Aprili Media
“Now, dialogue with the police is absolutely out of the question. They are not there to protect the protesters at the demonstration — they are there to disperse them. They are waiting for orders to disperse them, to violate their right to express themselves. They no longer care what rights a protester has.”
According to Tamar, the police obey the regime’s illegal orders and citizens are also detained due to the regime’s orders, while at the same time, they are trying to sow fear and self-censorship through restrictive laws.
“If you don’t comply, they won’t give you social benefits or your child won’t be able to receive funding, they won’t be able to continue their health care, etc. They are trying to silence people with similar pressure and blackmail — not only activists, but also citizens. Even the financial terror that they imposed on us citizens in the form of a 5,000-GEL fine. All of this, in fact, serves to somehow suppress the protest, to instill fear in us.”
Tamar has been involved in activism and resistance since 2019. She says that her daughter practically grew up on demonstrations and rallies, although she knows well what her mother is fighting for and shares these values.
“My daughter was one of those who protested with her classmates at school. She follows me in this protest. She also realizes that sometimes the police may arrest me, but naturally she worries about all this. She was especially upset when she saw the video of me being arrested. In the footage, it seems like the police are beating me against a wall. I have certain health problems, which made my daughter even more upset, and she started asking her friends where I was and how I was. However, we will overcome all this, she is a strong girl.”
Worrying about family members, days when she can’t return home, sometimes she spends time on the street, sometimes in the office, sometimes she can’t see her child, sometimes she thinks about dangers such as being followed or eavesdropped on — these are Tamar’s everyday experiences, although her determination is strong:
“We really have no way to turn back, we continue to fight and the fight will be until the end.”