“The opposition’s rhetoric is divorced from logic; there is no such thing as a middle ground, no such thing as half-weak, half-strong,” former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili stated at his court hearing.

Saakashvili argued that the struggle must be seen through to the very end.

“Today, they are announcing Khabeishvili’s sentence. I am certain they will hand down the maximum. I want to offer encouragement from here. That man sleeps soundly only when every patriot and fighter is behind bars. Levan, do not be afraid, we are on the front line of this struggle, and Georgia will endure it. It is Georgia’s fate that everything happens here first. We will see this fight through to the end. That is our lot, and the lot of the Georgian people. They have turned us into actors in their spectacle. What is happening on Rustaveli Avenue and in the courts is a spectacle of power; Ivanishvili is using it to demonstrate his dominance.

The opposition’s rhetoric is divorced from logic. There is no middle ground, no such thing as half-weak and strong. Who are these petty little men who terrorise the people?! Carrot juice is no longer enough to send Ivanishvili to sleep, not unless patriots and fighters are in prison.

There were Russian agents in my inner circle. In 2020, one of them kept telling me to come back, then passed my coordinates to Ivanishvili’s government. He was supposed to meet me when I arrived, but he did not show up and handed over all my details. He later took part in other provocations. Betrayal has always existed and always will; what matters is that we rise to the occasion. Georgia is not some small village where you can fence in whoever lives there and make them answer for it. They did everything to ensure these people were gone, to get rid of us: the people aren’t ready, and so on. What is needed is relentless pressure and fearlessness in the face of prison. I spent my most productive years in prison. You are the cowards, I fear nothing,” Mikheil Saakashvili has stated.

Saakashvili also issued a call for unity and expressed his support for the May 26 demonstration.

“I am certain the situation will change very soon. I call on everyone to unite. I support the May 26 rally. Let us show one another how many of us there are. Turning up, dispersing and then waiting to be told when to gather again, that won’t work. There must be a commitment to going all the way. We don’t need people swanning around Europe at the public’s expense; these people built their careers on Georgia’s back,” Mikheil Saakashvili has said.