“He [Givi Targamadze] knew this outcome was inevitable, yet he still took that step. We can’t help someone who is inclined toward self-imprisonment,” said Tengiz Sharmanashvili, a member of the parliamentary investigative commission, in response to the arrest of opposition politician Givi Targamadze.

According to him, politicians who were arrested for failing to appear before the investigative commission “are not political prisoners in any way.”

“What political imprisonment are we talking about? The obligation to appear before an investigative commission isn’t just written in the parliamentary regulations or some other document—it is written in the Constitution, which states that anyone summoned by the commission is required to appear. When you know in advance—after being publicly warned for months, then personally notified and summoned—and you still evade it, you know perfectly well how it will end. So are we to believe that everyone who did appear acted wrongly? In fact, those people acted correctly. He [Targamadze] knew what the consequence would be, but he still took that step. We cannot help someone who is inclined toward self-imprisonment.

After criminal proceedings began against some of them, they were offered bail, and they knew what would happen if they didn’t pay it—yet they still refused to. They wouldn’t testify before the commission, but when they got to court, didn’t all of them give testimony? During various stages of questioning, didn’t they themselves request to be interrogated? Khazaradze and Japaridze did exactly that. So they recognize the court’s authority, but then refuse to accept its decisions? They’re inconsistent and make so many mistakes that later they can’t justify themselves to their voters and instead point fingers, claiming they’re political prisoners. They are not political prisoners,” said Tengiz Sharmanashvili.

As a reminder, opposition politician Givi Targamadze was found guilty by the court of failing to comply with the request of the temporary parliamentary investigative commission. Judge Nino Galustashvili sentenced him to seven months in prison and banned him from holding public office for two years.