According to politician Givi Targamadze, the 10,000 GEL bail imposed on him by the court as a preventive measure due to his failure to appear before the temporary investigative commission is disproportionate. He made this statement to journalists after the court hearing.

“As a former member of parliament, my only income is a 1,000 GEL pension. I have no property whatsoever; nothing is registered in my name. [To secure the bail] they discussed using my son’s house, where my mother-in-law lives, so I have no connection to that house.

So, it is what it is—what can you do? As for paying the bail, I’ll come to an agreement with my lawyer,” said Givi Targamadze.

Regarding the prosecution’s position that Targamadze might go into hiding, he explained that there was never any risk of him fleeing. According to him, the work of the temporary investigative commission itself is aimed at fighting the opposition. He also addressed the well-known statement he made years ago, in which he said, “I’ll make you cough up your soul.”

“We still haven’t gotten past that—it’s been so long. Since they came to power in 2012, they’ve been looking for the 80 million I supposedly took, but it turned out it didn’t exist. Then they ran out of other things too, and all they had left was this ‘I’ll make you cough up your soul’ quote, which I’ve explained many times. I think, as of today, that statement is the most legitimate, because it was about how ‘Russian flags will not wave on Rustaveli Avenue and we will not allow it.’ And now, I think we’re seeing how they plan to spread those Russian flags,” Targamadze said.