Five actors left a theater in Tbilisi in protest against the removal of a banner.

Five leading actors of Tbilisi's Vaso Abashidze Music and Drama Theater left the company after a banner supporting their colleague Andro Chichinadze, who was sentenced to two years in prison for participating in protests, was removed from the building's facade.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," on September 2, 2025, the court sentenced 11 people, including actor Andro Chichinadze, comedian Onise Tskhadadze, and two Ukrainian citizens, Ruslan Sivakov and Sergei Kukharchuk, to two years in prison for participating in unrest. Saba Skhvitaridze was also sentenced to a similar term for assaulting a police officer.

Five leading actors of Tbilisi's Vaso Abashidze Music and Drama Theater (the "New Theater") left the troupe in protest after a poster in support of their convicted colleague, Andro Chichinadze, was removed from the building. Eka Demetradze, Giviko Baratashvili, Kakha Kintsurashvili, Nanka Kalatozishvili, and Taso Chanturia announced their resignations. They published the following statement on their social media pages: "As of today, I am no longer an actor at the Vaso Abashidze State Professional Musical Comedy and Drama Theater. "A big thank you to everyone I'm standing with on stage," reports Novosti Georgia.

Andro Chichinadze was one of dozens detained following pro-European protests in Tbilisi in November-December 2024. In September 2025, a court sentenced him to two years in prison, finding him guilty of "organizing or actively participating in group actions that violate public order."

A banner with Chichinadze's image and the inscription "Freedom for the prisoners of the system!" hung on the theater's facade for over a year, but yesterday it was removed to allow for the filming of a new music show by the pro-government television channel Rustavi 2. Chichinadze's colleagues tried to prevent the dismantling for several days and physically defended the banner.

Demanding the release of Chichinadze and other protesters, the theater maintained a long-standing boycott: the troupe toured cities across Georgia with a protest manifesto. Last April, David Doiashvili was fired from his position as the theater's artistic director for these actions.

The Caucasian Knot published a report titled "The Main Thing About the Persecution of Protest Participants in Georgia." The Caucasian Knot compiled materials about the parliamentary elections and the subsequent protests on the page "Elections in Georgia-2024".

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