Zurab Japaridze, a leader of the Coalition for Change, said he had expected to leave the penitentiary facility around 10:30 a.m., but was made to leave at 8:00 a.m.

“A few days ago, they told me that I should be ready to leave around 10:30, but it turned out that at 8:00 in the morning they brought me outside wearing just a T-shirt, where there wasn’t a single living soul. There was one person waiting in a taxi, and he helped warm me up for a while. Using his phone, I contacted my wife, and then my friend came. I have a strange feeling right now,” Zurab Japaridze said in an interview with Mtavari TV.

Zurab “Girchi” Japaridze was detained on May 22 in the courtroom. He had been summoned to provide explanations to the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Parliament of Georgia, which he did not attend. Japaridze was charged under Article 349 of the Criminal Code, which refers to “failure to comply with the request of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Parliament of Georgia.”