“No one is prosecuting Giorgi Baramidze for being patriotic or unpatriotic - what repression are we talking about?! Who forced him to say this?! Did the state come up to him, and whisper them in his ear?” - Georgian Dream MP Tengiz Sharmanashvili told journalists.

According to him, Baramidze’s statement was absolutely catastrophic for Georgia’s image.

“These are not serious explanations. No one is prosecuting him for being patriotic or unpatriotic. He has been charged with a specific criminal offense - sabotage. His statement was absolutely catastrophic for Georgia’s image. If we start claiming that we committed genocide in the occupied territories, or carried out executions and committed war crimes, it is not difficult to understand where such claims could take the issue of our territorial integrity. And I think we should not say much more about this.

He clarified his statement and said something even worse than he had said initially. First, he said that the army was doing this. Then he said that it was angry people whom the state could not control, and that these people went on to commit war crimes. So talking about this issue is somewhat uncomfortable.

What repression are we talking about?! Who forced him to say this?! Did the state ‘put these words in his mouth’?! Did it come to him and whisper in his ear, ‘We don’t like something you did, and we want to carry out repression, so perhaps you could say this and give us free rein’? Is that how these people see it?! What he did, he did himself,” Sharmanashvili said.

For reference, Giorgi Baramidze, one of the leaders of the United National Movement, was arrested on charges of treason against the homeland, specifically sabotage. The case concerns a statement made by Baramidze about the war in Abkhazia, namely that “during the initial stage of the 1992-1993 armed conflict in Abkhazia, members of the Georgian armed forces did not take prisoners and executed them on the spot.”

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, his statement damaged the reputation of Georgia’s Defense Forces and undermined the honor and dignity of veterans who participated in the Abkhazia war and deceased military personnel.

“At the same time, Giorgi Baramidze’s actions threatened the process of reconciliation and confidence-building with populations affected by the conflict, harmed Georgia’s peacebuilding and de-occupation policy, and obstructed the normal functioning of state institutions, including the activities of the Office of the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality and the effective functioning of mechanisms established by the office for confidence-building and cooperation,” the Prosecutor’s Office said.

The charge carries a sentence of up to four years’ imprisonment.