Mamuka Mdinaradze: People committed a crime and were given the appropriate punishment – if someone wants to hide in prison because they have nothing else to offer, what can be done in such a case?

"Did they appear before the commission? No. According to Georgian legislation, is failure to appear a crime? Yes. Therefore, people committed a crime and were given the appropriate punishment," said Mamuka Mdinaradze, Executive Secretary of "Georgian Dream," assessing the detention of "Lelo – Strong Georgia" leaders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze.

According to Mdinaradze, political imprisonment exists when a person is illegally persecuted for political motives, but in this specific case, the legal process is clearly defined:

"Political imprisonment occurs when a person is detained unlawfully, with political motives and objectives. Not a single case has been that simple. Failure to appear is punishable by law. They didn’t appear and were punished. Where’s the politics in this? If someone wants to hide in prison because they have nothing else to offer – neither dignified participation in elections nor achieving results – and they demonstratively committed a crime in public, what can be done in such a case? Either you say the state doesn’t exist, or they want to dismantle the state," Mdinaradze stated.