Georgia's third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and former prime minister Zurab Noghaideli confronted each other during the trial.

At the hearing, where Zurab Noghaideli is currently testifying, the situation became tense after Saakashvili asked questions to the witness and called him a traitor. The situation became so tense that the bailiff's office and the parties had to intervene.

Initially, the trial was conducted in a calm atmosphere.

“Zura says that my competence was to declare a state of emergency, I confirm this. I do not confirm that the army was deployed in the streets to restore order, this is a lie. The army was deployed because we had to show the enemy that Georgia is alive and can defend itself.

Zura, I would like to ask you, when you talk about Patarkatsishvili, did you know that he was closely connected to Russia?” Saakashvili addressed him, to which Noghaideli stated that he was an exile from Russia.

“When he was already in Georgia, he was an exile from Russia, you know that very well, don’t you?”, the former prime minister addressed the former president.

“No, wait, Patarkatsishvili’s money was of Russian origin, wasn’t his security chief an FSB agent?” Saakashvili asked him.

“Maybe. If he was an FSB agent, why was he in Tbilisi?” he replied to Saakashvili. Noghaideli also noted: “We all knew that Patarkatsishvili was connected to Russia,” after which Saakashvili asked him if Imedi TV was founded with Russian money, to which the witness replied, “Maybe.”

The former president also asked him again about the November 4, 2007 meeting, which Vasil Maghlaperidze had told him about. Saakashvili was interested in whether Maghlaperidze had made a recording of the aforementioned, to which Noghaideli said that the court would find out.

“Who rented the apartment where Zurab Zhvania died?” - Saakashvili asked him again, to which Noghaideli replied that he did not know.

“Were you at the meeting with Putin?” - Saakashvili asked Noghaideli, to which he answered in the affirmative and stated that he was, “in order to normalize relations between Russia and Georgia.”

“After he entered Georgia, annexed territories, killed a lot of people? After that, you yourself decided to go to the enemy and bow to him? Or did you call him not to invade Georgia?” - Saakashvili asked Noghaideli, to which he answered again with a question.

“Did you?” - Noghaideli asked Saakashvili, which led to a commotion and a confrontation.

“Look at this traitor, he went to Putin. An absolute scoundrel. He betrayed Georgia to Russia, and such people sold Georgia and brought us to this situation, such people who do not have self-respect, national dignity, honesty.

I have nothing more to say to this traitor and I am leaving the court. This is a fake court organized by Russia, Putin, to try me, one Russian witness is standing here and I am being tried on charges written by another Russian,” Saakashvili said.

After this, Saakashvili left the courtroom, and the panel of judges warned those in the hall and the accused that if they did not maintain order, they would close the hearing.

For information, the state indictment charges Mikheil Saakashvili with the mass crackdown on protesters on November 7, 2007, the raid on the Imedi TV company, and the criminal seizure of property belonging to Badri Patarkatsishvili.

The former president of Georgia is charged under Part 3 of Article 333 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which refers to abuse of official authority, which resulted in a substantial violation of the rights of an individual or legal entity, society, or the legitimate interests of the state. The aforementioned charge provides for a term of imprisonment of 5 to 8 years as a form and measure of punishment.

Along with Saakashvili, the defendants in the case are Vano Merabishvili, Zurab Adeishvili, Davit Kezerashvili, and Gigi Ugulava.