The Tbilisi City Court has imposed a non-custodial bail of 30,000 GEL on Zurab Girchi Japaridze in the sabotage case. In addition, Japaridze’s ID card and passport have been confiscated.

Zurab Japaridze was present at today’s court hearing.

Speaking to the media after the session, Japaridze said he has not yet decided whether he will pay the bail.

“I don’t have a position yet. In my opinion, the only thing this decision is connected to is my briefing today, where we spoke about the systematic torture and use of chemical substances against people in November–December of last year. That’s the only explanation I see. I don’t understand why this was done today and not on Friday,” Japaridze said.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia initiated criminal proceedings on November 6 against Mikheil Saakashvili, Giorgi Vashadze, Nika Gvaramia, Nikanor Melia, Zurab Japaridze, Elene Khoshtaria, Mamuka Khazaradze, and Badri Japaridze.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the case concerns alleged crimes against the state, including sabotage, assistance to a foreign state in hostile activities, financing actions aimed against Georgia’s constitutional order and national security, and calls for the violent change of the constitutional order or the overthrow of the state government.