I refused to engage in anti-Western propaganda, and he [Bidzina Ivanishvili] considered this a betrayal - the case against me is being conducted using the old, “Mkhedrioni”-style, 90s methods, with torture in prison, - the former Director General of the Co-Investment Fund, Giorgi Bachiashvili, stated during his final speech at the court hearing.

According to him, when the ultimatum against him expired, court proceedings began against, after which, based on personal information, according to which he was planned to be tortured in prison, he left the country.

"Today, the absurdity of this case is clearer. The documents indicate that it was a loan, although the prosecution and Ivanishvili's testimony indicate that this money was an investment. Then, why didn't they ask where the income from the investment was?

I have been in this situation for 2 years. This was caused by a difference of opinion between me and Bidzina Ivanishvili regarding the rhetoric related to the "global war party", and this rhetoric intensified with the initiation of the case against me. I refused to engage in anti-Western propaganda, and he [Bidzina Ivanishvili] considered this a betrayal. When the ultimatum expired, according to which he demanded that I return the money, the process began against me.

Then I received information that they were going to torture me in prison, and that's why I had to leave the country. They brought me down with a shocker hanging over my head, they allege they found me in the green zone and put me in an isolation ward. No investigation was launched into this case.

After that, what Ivanishvili promised me happened in prison, they sent an executioner to me, who inflicted injuries on me. I still don't have the status of a victim.

The case against me is being conducted using the old, “Mkhedrioni”-style, 90s methods, with torture in prison.

You can't scare me with anything, not even an 11-year sentence," Giorgi Bachiashvili said.

Also, Bachiashvili said that in Bidzina Ivanishvili's testimony, "there is not even 2 paragraphs where he didn't lie."

"[The prosecutor] is under pressure and why is he doing this? Is he afraid of something? It was the same under the previous government. Now you have a chance not to be ashamed to look in your children’s eye years later.

As for the evidence, the prosecution spoke about the high quality of the evidence, although with a low-quality interpretation. You won't find even 2 paragraphs in Ivanishvili's testimony where he didn't lie," Giorgi Bachiashvili said.

For information, the trial of Giorgi Bachiashvili, the former Director General of the Co-Investment Fund, will be held at the Court of Appeal on August 12 at 12:00 and the verdict will be announced.

The case concerns the misappropriation of cryptocurrency of Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, for which the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Bachiashvili to 11 years in prison.