The weakness of Ivanishvili is when he cannot arrest you. Some people walked into prison on their own. How can you offer your neck to the regime and say, “Cut off my head?” — Levan Gogichaishvili, one of the leaders of the For Georgia party, said this on PalitraNews’ “Day Newsroom” programme while discussing politicians charged in the so-called sabotage case.

According to Gogichaishvili, opposition leaders should “not give the regime the opportunity to have them arrested.”

“There can be no giving up. These people are leading the discussion towards the idea that the world is coming to an end. This process must not be viewed as if everything is over. Now is not the time for hopelessness; people should not walk into prison on their own and should not allow themselves to be arrested.

The weakness of Ivanishvili is when he cannot arrest you. Some people walked into prison on their own. How can you offer your neck to the regime and say, ‘Cut off my head?’

People now need to be shown hope and the ability to fight. What are they supposed to fight for from prison? If these people have the opportunity, they should not allow the regime to have them arrested. Being in politics today carries a personal risk, but we take that risk upon ourselves, don’t we? If something happens to me, I will never tell others not to fight because of it. The people who supported us have not gone anywhere, while Georgian Dream has even fewer voters, has angered even more people and has lost the trust of even more people.

Bidzina Ivanishvili is not all-powerful, nor is his system,” Gogichaishvili said.

Asked whether the politicians charged in the case should leave Georgia, Gogichaishvili said that if they have the opportunity to avoid imprisonment, they should use it.

“If these people have the opportunity not to go to prison, they should not go. That is how I see this matter. Bidzina Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream take pleasure in arresting these people. The system believes that imprisoning these people makes it stronger. Whether it does or not will become clear in the future, but in the present, it has the feeling that it is becoming stronger and can do anything. But when the system cannot arrest a person, it is, of course, weak at that moment.

Georgian Dream is strong with students and strong with us [politicians], but those police officers who aggressively attack Georgians repeatedly retreat along the occupation line. The occupation line has been moved 55 times over the past year. Why did these people retreat? Aren’t they standing there? Are they only strong when dealing with students?

Therefore, the struggle must continue, but legally and in the right ways; it must continue through the political process. I am saying directly: if there is an opportunity for Ivanishvili not to be able to arrest these people [the politicians charged in the case], they should use that opportunity. It is better not to allow themselves to be arrested. The fact that Georgian Dream is unable to arrest them shows more weakness than the fact that it does arrest them,” Gogichaishvili said.

The opposition politician also discussed Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili’s trip to Washington, where, at the invitation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, she is scheduled to participate in a ministerial meeting on “political terrorism.” Gogichaishvili assessed the visit positively and said it would be good if contacts were restored and Georgia was not forgotten.

“Our wish is that this country, despite Ivanishvili’s wishes, should not be internationally isolated. Therefore, if such channels emerge and communication takes place, I see no problem with that — on the contrary. The main thing is that we are not forgotten.

We will see what result Ms Bochorishvili’s visit will have. In general, the fact that this process is taking place is not a bad thing because the more isolated Ivanishvili becomes, the greater his fear and irrationality will be, and the more aggressive and difficult the situation will become. Therefore, I think these contacts should be restored. The situation will be very difficult if contacts remain broken,” Gogichaishvili said.