The arrest of Vakho concerns not only Vakho, the Formula or journalism in general. We are at a very dangerous crossroads and here all other options except action are disastrous, - the third President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, writes on his Facebook page, thus responding to the detention of journalist Vakho Sanaia for 14 days.

According to him, all journalists will be faced with an alternative: either prison or emigration.

“I want to respond to the imprisonment of Vakho Sanaia. A very dangerous moment has come, Vakho is a true patriot and one of the most interesting intellectual and fighter journalists. I am friends with him and was also a close friend of his older brother, the murdered famous journalist, Giorgi Sanaia.

The selection of Vakho, of course, serves to intimidate and set an example for others, but it also means the start of the implementation of a big plan. There are two goals, the first - the dictatorship intends to close down television stations and at the same time intends to stop the process of journalists moving to social media. Just like Russia, the dictator leaves journalists with the only chance - to go to Europe and broadcast from there.

In short, there will be no place for Vakho Sanaia, Nodar Meladze, Tea Adeishvili, Mate Kirvalidze, Giorgi Targamadze, Inga Grigolia and others in Georgia, where they will even be banned from entering. Instead, they will be localized in Warsaw, Amsterdam or Vilnius, and this moment will come in 2-3 months at most. Every journalist will have an alternative, either prison or emigration!

The second goal is to intimidate the entire society. For example, if you take my Facebook, people’s activity, views, likes, and shares are growing rapidly. New blogs and podcasts have appeared, which many people watch, like, and follow, and perhaps soon, by including other journalists, they want to turn this around.

So, if society does not launch a massive counterattack, television stations will also be closed very soon, journalists will be expelled, and people will be even more intimidated.

After passing this stage and expelling journalists abroad, the dictatorship will move on to the next stage - declaring war on all citizens abroad who have already been deprived of their right to vote. The next step will be to seize and confiscate their property in Georgia, refuse to renew their passports and other consular services, and generally declare them enemies. All this is already happening in Russia.

So the arrest of Vakho concerns not only Vakho, the Formula or journalism in general. We are at a very dangerous crossroads and here all other options except action are disastrous,” Saakashvili wrote.