“There is no other solution but for the Georgian nation to find the strength to carry out a peaceful revolution,” declared Murtaz Zodelava, a member of the United National Movement (UNM), during the trial.

According to Zodelava, “a peaceful revolution is a balm.”

“You must understand my inner state, my mood, and my anxiety, because it is impossible to remain indifferent when the elections are cancelled. In most districts, Georgian Dream manipulated 100% support, mirroring the percentages Shevardnadze once gained before the Rose Revolution.

Today, Bidzina Ivanishvili controls all branches of power; it has metastasised. There is no alternative but for the Georgian people to find their strength and carry out a peaceful revolution. Ivanishvili is trying to sow pro-Western hatred, especially within the security services. The society that is being pushed aside as enemies, strangers, neither women nor men, we are the ones who believe Georgia should be part of Europe, and that Bidzina should not be our ruler.

If we remain mere pawns in Ivanishvili’s garden, like flowers that may eventually wither, we must either become a bush and leave, or become a seed and stay here to grow. I had taken a long break from political activity, but I felt a renewed surge of protest when he arrested numerous politicians and established a commission of slander and discord. I was once an official myself; perhaps I failed to see beyond the walls of my office. But now, the situation is different.

Inside, I am law-abiding. I have never broken the law. Yet, suddenly, I felt as if I had gone mad; I lost that feeling of stability. Now, I believe, everything is possible if we are to save our country. A peaceful revolution is a balm; otherwise, Bidzina will never relinquish power. As it turns out, he has managed to instil the greatest fear in his supporters,” Zodelava stated.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has charged Irakli Nadiradze, Paata Burchuladze, Murtaz Zodelava, Paata Manjgaladze, and Lasha Beridze with organising and leading groups of violence, attempting to seize objects of strategic and special importance, altering Georgia’s constitutional order through violence, and calling for the overthrow of the government.

The Tbilisi City Court has imposed imprisonment on all of them as a preventive measure.