It will certainly be written in the pages of history that the 5th President of Georgia, who tried to resist the Russian occupation regime with the European flag, did not pardon the 3rd President, who first raised the European flag in Georgia - along with Ivanishvili's Russian regime, Salome Zurabishvili also shares responsibility for this historical injustice, - the Chairperson of the National Movement, Tinatin Bokuchava, stated at the briefing held at the party office, responding to the decision made against Mikheil Saakashvili in the case of illegal border crossing.

As Bokuchava noted, if Salome Zurabishvili had pardoned Mikheil Saakashvili, the judge would not have been able to apply the principle of concurrence against him today.

"I would like to respond to the verdict made against President Saakashvili today. The so-called judge, Ivanishvili's servant, Mikheil Jinjolia, sentenced President Mikheil Saakashvili to 12.6 years in prison. The president who put Georgia back on the international map, who created modern Georgian state institutions and who, most importantly, did not give our homeland to the enemy in 2008. Imposion of the most severe possible sentence, is an unprecedented butchery and repressive decision even for Ivanishvili's Russian regime, which proves that President Saakashvili remains Ivanishvili's main enemy and opponent. In addition, today I would like to once again respond to President Salome Zurabishvili's decision not to pardon President Mikheil Saakashvili. Despite numerous requests to Salome Zurabishvili, and despite specific calls from international actors, including the European Parliament, to pardon President Saakashvili, she did not use the constitutional pardon lever at her disposal. Her main argument for not using the pardon instrument was that the act of pardon would not result in President Saakashvili’s freedom. Today, it was confirmed that in addition to the moral and political statement, which we have discussed many times, her decision to pardon him would also have practical and real consequences. Today, Mikheil Jinjolia could not apply the principle of cumulativeness, since pardoning would have annulled the convictions and the corresponding years of imprisonment in all the cases in which he was convicted. Therefore, today, Salome Zurabishvili also shares responsibility for this historical injustice with Ivanishvili’s Russian regime.

No matter what anyone thinks today and what political taste they have, it will definitely be written in the pages of Georgian history that the fifth president of Georgia, who tried to resist the Russian occupation regime with the European flag, did not pardon the third president of Georgia, who first raised the European flag in Georgia. This is the reality and no political taste can change this.

Finally, I would like to address President Saakashvili: Misha, in this fight for your freedom, for every political prisoner, and for the freedom of Georgia, we - the United National Movement - will be as united as ever, and we will have your words today as a torch - “We fight and we win”, this is the only way. Glory to freedom! Glory to Georgia! Freedom to Misha and all political prisoners!” - stated Tinatin Bokuchava.