UNM’s Gia Baramidze: Admitting individual fighters executed prisoners does not implicate the Georgian army and state

“My words were taken out of context. I stated that the other side, namely the Russian and separatist side, held numerous captives while we did not because our men were executing them. That does not mean the Georgian state or the Georgian army was executing them,” United National Movement member Gia Baramidze told GPB First Channel.

According to Baramidze, it is hardly surprising that when someone’s father, child, cousin, or loved one has been killed, they show no mercy to the enemy.

“My words were taken out of context. I said that during the first weeks of the war, in the early stages when I was involved in prisoner exchanges, I discovered at the start of that process that we had no captives. I stated that the other side, meaning the Russian and separatist side, held many captives while we had none because our men were executing them. I used that word, but it does not mean the Georgian state or the Georgian army was executing people. We were engaged in a life-and-death struggle against the enemy, and our men were taking no prisoners. That is a standard reality of war.

As I noted then, when your father, child, cousin, or relative has been killed, it is hardly surprising if you show the enemy no mercy. It is an ordinary occurrence. This is neither the fault nor, most certainly, the crime of the Georgian army, which did not exist as a formal military back then, and no one can ever lodge this against us as a crime. It is a fact that the Russian Federation is the aggressor, that the Russian Federation carried out ethnic cleansing, and that the Russian Federation bears responsibility for the crimes committed in Abkhazia in 1992–1993,” declared Gia Baramidze.