“Under no ruler has the Church been strengthened as much as during my presidency. Why do you allow us to be declared infidels and enemies of the Church?” said former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili during the ongoing trial in the November 7 case.
He maintained that this point ought to feature in every public discourse.
“Why do we not speak of this? Under no ruler did the Church flourish as it did during my presidency. We restored nearly 300 churches. That was not Ivanishvili’s money, as rumour had it; it was the Georgian state budget. We erected the statue of Saint George in the central square. Why do you allow them to brand us as godless enemies of the Church?
The GD go on about soup, do they? Following the United National Movement’s period in government, a bowl of meatless soup now costs two and a half times more. Infant nutrition — three times more. They call it a repressive regime, yet we had not a single political prisoner. Levan Khabeishvili was locked up for one reason alone: he restored hope to the people, gave them the impetus to organise, refused to be cowed by beatings and threats, and in the end, they arrested him on charges of bribing police. The same applies to Elene Khoshtaria, who was left behind bars and will likely have years added to her sentence, simply because she showed she fears nothing. The same goes for Paata Burchuladze, whose fearless character is the only reason he finds himself in a cell.
Nika Melia wrote a lengthy letter from which, frankly, I understood very little other than that he disapproves of me, but let us set that aside. Why was he left in prison? Ivanishvili never forgave him for freezing 70 million in illicit assets during his time in the enforcement service. They never forgave Irakli Nadiradze for forcing a corrupt gang to forfeit many millions through the city council. They never forgave Paata Manjgaladze and Murtaz Zodelava simply for being decent men. Colonel Lasha Beridze, a graduate of one of America’s finest military academies, instead of defending his homeland, was thrown into prison. His having studied at an American academy was deemed sufficient grounds,” Saakashvili declared.
Saakashvili also addressed the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“I have some good news to share. For the first time, Ukrainian drones have penetrated Moscow’s territory, including its central districts. For three months running now, the Russian army has been losing more ground in Ukraine than it is gaining. That is a remarkable result. It means their song is nearly over. Russia has lost ten billion dollars as a result of strikes,” Saakashvili said.
Speaking at the hearing, Saakashvili also commented on the European Political Community summit taking place in Armenia.
“Today is a significant day in the history of the Caucasus. For the first time, European leaders have visited the Caucasus, but not to the region’s traditional centre. While everyone recognises that Tbilisi has historically been the focal point, they have instead chosen to go to Yerevan. In 2013, Ivanishvili even declared that Armenia’s foreign policy at the time was a model worth emulating. Now we have become the Armenia of 2013, and Armenia has become the Georgia of pre-2012. Can anyone seriously doubt that, had my course continued, every one of those European leaders would have come to Tbilisi?” Saakashvili remarked.
The former President also expressed pride in his political legacy.
“Not long ago, a politician said that Saakashvili is haunted by the traumas of the past. The traumas of the past trouble those who cannot speak of the past and go out of their way to avoid it. I, for one, am proud of our past. They keep recycling the same line, that in 2008 Georgia lost the war, that Georgia surrendered territories, that Saakashvili signed away 20 per cent of its territory. In reality, the opposite is true. They were pressing me to sign a ceasefire agreement and leave the status of our territories unresolved. Putin and Sarkozy were pressing me together, telling me I would be killed if I did not sign. Sarkozy was relaying Putin’s words to me. We did not sign that. What we signed was a very good agreement under which Russia was obliged to withdraw its forces from the occupied territories. They did not honour it, and they have not been held to account for it because we do not speak of it. Ivanishvili’s regime has been given a free hand to stop discussing the fulfilment of that agreement altogether, and instead to point the finger at us over some mythical surrender of territories. In reality, it was Russia that suffered a catastrophic defeat in 2008,” Saakashvili declared.
Having delivered his political remarks, Saakashvili left the courtroom.
