“Don’t let these traitors think that the Georgian people will give up,” said Giorgi Baramidze, Political Secretary of the United National Movement, at today’s briefing.

He commented on the initiation of criminal prosecution against opposition politicians and said this is Putin’s plan.

“We all see what is happening in our country in terms of the intensification of political repressions, but we must not lose sight of the main question — why is Putin and his fifth column, the gang of traitors and criminals, doing all this? Why are political repressions needed, why are parties, non-governmental organizations, and ordinary patriots being persecuted and pressured, why is the political system being ‘Kadyrovized’, why is it being made to resemble Lukashenko’s Belarus? It’s because of what Bidzina Ivanishvili said — that he needs this country as a territory, as his private company. This is entirely part of Putin’s plan: that there should no longer be people in this country. The country should be emptied of the Georgian spirit. To deprive it of the Georgian spirit and the ability to resist the enemy, it must also be emptied of Georgians. That is why they are doing all this, which he and his servitors openly said — ‘leave here, Georgians who do not like this dictatorship, who do not want to live in Bidzina Ivanishvili’s private company,’” Baramidze said.

He explained that the start of criminal prosecution against opposition leaders is also part of the constitutional claim by which the authorities are banning some parties from political activity.

According to Baramidze, Ivanishvili’s goal is to sever Georgia from the Western world, to drain it of the Georgian spirit and democratic institutions, and to render Georgian law and the constitution disregarded.

“Of course, they will try to use every instrument available, but the United National Movement intends to fight here as well and expose this regime of traitors and criminals. They are not trying to convict the United National Movement — they are trying to convict and incriminate the modern Georgian state,” Baramidze said.

He added that the Georgian people must resist all of this.

“I am confident that we will succeed through our unity and firmness. Through our endurance, peaceful but principled struggle. Don’t let these traitors think that the Georgian people will give up. The Georgian people will certainly fight and will win the victory necessary to save their homeland — a victory that will be the beginning of the reunification and strengthening of the Georgian state,” Baramidze said.

For reference, the General Prosecutor’s Office has initiated criminal proceedings against Mikheil Saakashvili, Giorgi Vashadze, Nika Gvaramia, Nika Melia, Zurab Japaridze, Elene Khoshtaria, Mamuka Khazaradze, and Badri Japaridze. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the case concerns crimes against the state, specifically: sabotage, assisting hostile activities for a foreign country, financing activities against Georgia’s constitutional order and the foundations of national security, and calls to violently change the constitutional order of Georgia or to overthrow state power.