“I saw Badri before his death. He was in deep depression, walking in the forest, not talking to his family. He had changed quite a lot,” the former owner of television company Imedi, Irakli Rukhadze, stated during questioning as a witness in Tbilisi City Court in the November 7 case.

According to him, in fact the events that developed at Imedi during the rule of the National Movement “killed Badri.”

During the questioning, Rukhadze also mentioned a specific recording that Badri Patarkatsishvili instructed the then head of Imedi’s public and political programs, Giorgi Targamadze, to air, but Targamadze refused to broadcast the material.

“I don’t know what was happening in 2006 when the Girgvliani incident occurred, but that was the story when our relationship with the authorities became strained. Later the situation was sorted out around the railway topic… Saakashvili was exchanging the Georgian Railway with Patarkatsishvili for the television.

There was a raid on the television, equipment was smashed, people were beaten up. All the equipment was destroyed…. When we returned, we saw equipment brought from Rustavi 2 and Channel One that still had the stickers of those same television stations on the back. They brought this equipment so they could show the ambassadors: ‘Look, here is the equipment, we haven’t destroyed anything’…

(After the raid on Imedi) Badri Patarkatsishvili was in England, and I was in contact with him by satellite phone. In the evening I went up onto the roof and called him; he told me: ‘I’ve sent something to [Giorgi] Targamadze, he has to air it and he’s not airing it.’ He asked me to go to Targamadze and tell him to air it. I went to Targamadze and he told me: ‘Oh, Irakli, the reason I’m not airing that recording is that if you see it you’ll agree with me that it’s risky to air it.’ He said: ‘Come in the evening and we’ll decide together whether to air it’… Then during the day that recording was aired by Rustavi 2, but in an altered form. Badri also told me: ‘This is an altered recording.’ He said he would not leave it like that and would fight. What really happened is that, in fact, this is what killed Badri… I know that Patarkatsishvili gave Targamadze an audio recording so that it would be aired.

I saw Badri before his death. He was in deep depression, walking in the forest, not talking to his family. He had changed quite a lot,” Rukhadze stated.

Mikheil Saakashvili responded to the part about airing the recording and said that Irakli Rukhadze is lying in court.

“It’s a lie, there was no montage. Don’t talk lies! After Patarkatsishvili was exposed in an attempt at a state coup, his journalists believed this and closed the television themselves. What claims do you have against Saakashvili? Badri Patarkatsishvili closed the television after his journalists disobeyed him, period. You say that Badri Patarkatsishvili was not a political figure - I remind you of the statement he made in 2007: ‘I will do everything to overthrow Saakashvili’s fascism!’ Is that a political statement or not?

Through the questioning of this man it has been established that the man who lost a court case against me said that Badri Patarkatsishvili closed the television because the journalists went against him.

You will go back into that hole from which you will report to Ivanishvili how you carried out your assignment in court today. You will enter a hole. This is Ivanishvili’s kangaroo court. My captivity is temporary and I will enter the history of Georgia as its builder; you will enter it as jackals and hyenas,” Saakashvili stated and addressed Rukhadze: “You are talking about Imedi, which Britain has sanctioned.”

“Yes, Imedi is sanctioned,” Rukhadze replied to Saakashvili.