“It is claimed that through active cooperation with the Ukrainian side, I was providing information about the military situation to the detriment of Georgia’s interests. There is no evidence of my dealings with Ukraine, or that I obtained or gave any kind of military information to anyone,” stated Giorgi Vashadze, accused in the so-called sabotage case, during a court hearing.

He explained that there is no evidence against him in this case.

According to Vashadze, even if in other cases “police gave false testimony,” that is not true in this case.

“What happened that everyone is sitting together on the defendant’s bench and the prosecution is charging us under extraordinary articles? - Cooperation with foreign countries. We need to ask why this is happening and where the political crisis began. The prosecution falsely presents circumstances in these materials. It all began with the war in Ukraine, but it started with the issue of EU integration. What was the first big protest about? We were asking the government to submit an application for EU membership… EU accession is enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia; Article 78 clearly states this. I was obligated to do everything to make Georgia a member of the EU, while the other side was truly sabotaging.

What happened? Ukraine and Moldova received candidate status, Georgia - did not. The prosecution hid the fact that I approached representatives of the parliamentary majority, proposed a seven-point plan to Kobakhidze and Shalva Papuashvili. I said, based on our country’s interests, let us step back and work on these points, and I proposed joint visits to EU countries. Why did you only present the recordings that are in my favor, but omit the ones where I proposed this to them? Everything is presented backward in the indictment. We faced cynicism from the majority; they did not implement a single article. We again created working groups in Parliament to ensure we would at least get candidate status and presented this to the “Georgian Dream.” Their response - ‘No, we will do nothing, we will implement no reform.’ After that, we started a campaign to collect signatures - is that sabotage? The government passed the ‘Russian law,’ that’s sabotage! It is important that the prosecutors know this - after that, they withdrew the law and gave us candidate status…

Why is the people’s protest removed from this case? It is falsely claimed that people came out because of our call - a lie! On the 28th, Irakli Kobakhidze came out and announced that negotiations on EU integration were being stopped - that was the reality. The prosecution claims that in 2022 we ‘went crazy’ and said sanctions should be imposed on Russia. They claim that through active cooperation with Ukraine, I was providing military information to the detriment of Georgia’s interests. There is no evidence of my dealings with Ukraine, or that I obtained or gave any military information to anyone…

Name three pieces of evidence against me for this case to proceed…

Kobakhidze came out and made a statement - now you’re putting Kobakhidze’s statement in this case,” Vashadze said.

Following his statement, Zurab “Girchi” Japaridze began to speak and briefly addressed the court: “Before you close the case, maybe Vashadze’s case should be separated,” Japaridze said.

For reference, in the so-called sabotage case, the Prosecutor General’s Office has charged Mikheil Saakashvili, Giorgi Vashadze, Nika Gvaramia, Nika Melia, Zurab “Girchi” Japaridze, Elene Khoshtaria, Mamuka Khazaradze, and Badri Japaridze.

Specifically:

Giorgi Vashadze and Zurab “Girchi” Japaridze are charged under Article 318(1) and Article 319 of the Criminal Code, which cover sabotage and assisting a foreign country in hostile activities. These carry a sentence of 7–15 years imprisonment.

Elene Khoshtaria is charged under Article 318(1), Article 319, and Article 321¹(1), covering sabotage, providing material resources for the crime, and assisting a foreign country in hostile activities.

Nika Gvaramia, Nika Melia, Mamuka Khazaradze, and Badri Japaridze are charged under Article 318(1), covering sabotage.

Mikheil Saakashvili is charged under Article 317, which covers calls to violently change Georgia’s constitutional order or overthrow state power.

As a preventive measure, Giorgi Vashadze and Zurab “Girchi” Japaridze have bail set at 30,000 GEL each, while Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze have bail set at 1 million GEL each.