Family members of those arrested during protests are forming a public movement.

As stated in a joint statement of the family members of the prisoners, they are demanding the release of the unlawfully detained, as well as new, free and fair elections.

“Our children, sisters and friends are prisoners of conscience. They were arrested only because they peacefully protested against the illegal actions of the government, the rigging of elections, the trampling of democratic principles and the country’s deviation from the pro-Western course. Their arrest is part of political repression aimed at intimidating the public and silencing their voices.

We, the parents and family members of prisoners of conscience, are creating a public movement for the freedom of prisoners of conscience and declare the following:

We would like to start with the following: Russia started the August 2008 war, Abkhazia and Samachablo are Georgia. Thank you to all the soldiers, generals and the armed forces of Georgia who contributed to the defense and spirit of our country. We bow to your dedication and struggle. Accordingly, we will not allow anyone to doubt your spirit and patriotism. We will protect the sons of Georgia fighting for independence and freedom and all those who fight for the idea and will not allow them to remain in prison innocently. We take responsibility to fight to the end for their release. We demand the release of all illegal prisoners, the appointment of new, free and fair elections, where people will freely decide the future of their country.

Today we are starting a new, resistance movement that will be firm and unyielding. Please join us in this fight and let’s together protect the future of our country. We will gather on April 8, at the memorial and spend the night together," reads the joint statement of the family members of the prisoners of conscience.

The family members of the prisoners call on the opposition parties to "unite without any preconditions."

"The call applies to political parties. We call on all pro-Western and pro-European parties to unite around three main goals without any preconditions - new elections, the release of political and prisoners of conscience, and a boycott of local government elections," reads the statement.