“I turned on the TV and they announced that I am being threatened with a 15-year sentence. The case file arrived, and what’s in it? A blank sheet, a first name, a last name, and 15 years. I expect this case to be dropped,” said the leader of Strategy Aghmashenebeli, Giorgi Vashadze, speaking to journalists after leaving prison in connection with the case opened against him on charges of sabotage, assisting a foreign state in hostile activities, financing actions aimed against Georgia’s constitutional order and the foundations of national security, and calling for the violent change of the constitutional order or the overthrow of state power.

According to Vashadze, the prosecution opened a case against him that carries a possible 15-year prison sentence in order to force him to back down.

“I turned on the TV and they announced that I am being threatened with a 15-year sentence. The case file arrived and what’s in it? A blank page, my first name, my last name, and 15 years. Nothing else is written there - there is absolutely nothing in the case. I am simply telling society that this is the reality we live in. I don’t want anyone - not just me - to live in this reality, and that is why we are fighting. There will be no retreat; there will be determination, mobilization, standing by one another, encouraging each other, and we will move forward, fighting so that parents and children simply have the opportunity to meet each other. Imagine that there are prisoners in this penitentiary facility - for example, Levan Khabeishvili - who are not allowed to see their children. What could a child possibly be guilty of? Whatever the case may be, how could meeting a minor child harm anyone?

This case is nothing. I expect it to be dropped. I expect to win this case as well, and to win our struggle. I believe that all of us together will enter the European Union strongly and with dignity. There is nothing in this case. Imagine that tomorrow morning any one of you wakes up, turns on the TV, and the Prosecutor General appears and accuses you of murder - even though there is no victim, nothing exists - they simply tell you that you are accused and must be put in prison. No one has been killed, but they still say you killed someone. How could such a case move forward in any way? It cannot. They think we will retreat - and we will not retreat! We cannot retreat, because behind us are the people, behind us is our homeland, love for our homeland, our children. How could we retreat, where would we go? We could go to any country and achieve a lot, but I want this country to succeed. I do not intend to retreat, and I intend to fight,” Vashadze said.