“The argument ‘I’m not a politician’ is not valid. I’m not one either. I have a thousand things in my mind that I’ve wanted to do for years, and I can also ‘take care of my own business.’ Moreover, political activity is de facto already forbidden for us. For us and for anyone who associates with us, if/when we don’t stop, a long prison sentence awaits us,” - wrote Zurab Japaridze, one of the leaders of the “Coalition for Change,” in a message shared from Rustavi N12 Penitentiary.

Japaridze urges politicians that if they truly want to change something, they should “move to the front lines” and stop giving everyone advice from their TV screens.

“Friends, this applies to everyone, regardless of your profession: if you think something else needs to be done, come up with it. You have one head, and we have one head too. If you know what needs to be done, do it. You have two hands and two feet, and so do we. If you don’t have courage, find strength within yourself. Nobody was born invincible. In this reality, constantly pointing fingers at politicians only shows that either you lack talent to come up with something, or you lack courage to do it, and you point fingers just to avoid your own responsibility.

‘I’m not a politician’ is not an argument. I’m not one either. I have a thousand things in my mind that I’ve wanted to do for years, and I can also ‘take care of my own business.’ Moreover, political activity is already de facto forbidden for us - for us and anyone who associates with us. If/when we don’t stop, a long prison sentence awaits us. Therefore, if you really want to do something, move to the front lines. We will only be glad. Otherwise, giving advice to everyone from your TV screen - yes, we can do that, and that’s fine, but if that’s all we do, the Russians will even pay for it. They ask nothing else from us," this was stated in the letter by Zurab “Girchi” Japaridze.