MP Matikashvili: Forces behind UNM appear alarmed by Georgia’s peace policy

Giorgi Baramidze’s “grave and shameful” statement has both moral and legal implications, Georgian Dream member Davit Matikashvili said.

“From a moral standpoint, Baramidze accused the Georgian army and the state of a grave crime. He shamefully and immorally assessed the actions of the Georgian army, as if it had executed prisoners it had captured. Naturally, by doing so, he insulted the Georgian state and armed forces as a whole,” Matikashvili said.

According to Matikashvili, the statements by Baramidze and other UNM figures create the impression that forces giving instructions to the United National Movement are concerned about Georgia’s peace policy aimed at restoring the country’s territorial integrity.

“Gvaramia, Saakashvili and Baramidze are making statements intended to obstruct and delay this process. The statement we heard represents, in the literal sense, a step toward treason against the homeland. This is precisely how the Prosecutor’s Office assessed it when it charged Baramidze.

“The substance of the statement contains a grave accusation and an intention to obstruct our country’s state institutions in carrying out their activities. That is why the legal proceedings against Baramidze were initiated, as the public has seen.

“From a judicial perspective, the attempt to cause harm through Baramidze’s statement will be clearly established. No rewording or alteration of its content can in any way rectify the fundamental fact of what Baramidze accused the Georgian army of in his statement,” Matikashvili said.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia arrested Gia Baramidze, a senior leader of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) and former Minister of Internal Affairs and Defence (2003–2004), pursuant to a court warrant on charges of state treason, specifically manifested through sabotage. The charge carries a prison sentence of up to four years.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Iago Khvichia’s author program ‘The Birth of Georgia’ in July this year, Giorgi Baramidze claimed that during the initial stage of the 1992–1993 armed conflict in Abkhazia, representatives of the Georgian armed forces did not take prisoners and executed them on the spot.

The Prosecutor’s Office said that by making the statement, Baramidze accused Georgia’s armed forces of violating international humanitarian law and committing serious war crimes.

The Tbilisi City Court ordered Baramidze’s pretrial detention.