Lelo’s Japaridze: No time for despair. Time for unity

“They cannot break us. The beastliness that Bidzina Ivanishvili is now committing will end with his removal from power. This is designed to make us give up, for people to lose hope – on the contrary, this should give us additional strength,” stated Badri Japaridze, one of the leaders of the Lelo opposition party.

“We will fight for our country’s freedom and our country’s European future. Therefore, everyone must understand – this is not a time for despair, on the contrary, it’s time for unity.

People who carry out Bidzina Ivanishvili’s orders will pay an appropriate price.

I tell my voters to all stay mobilised, no one should dare to despair. This government is weakened. We must respond to imprisonment with unity and unified struggle, because they know they don’t have society’s support. No one can stand against the will of the Georgian people if we remain united,” Japaridze declared.

The court has sentenced Lelo leaders Badri Japaridze and Mamuka Khazaradze to eight months in prison for failing to comply with the requests of the Georgian Parliament’s temporary investigative commission and banned them from holding office for two years.