UNM’s Irakli Pavlenishvili: Many fellow citizens have broken free from the Russian deception that Saakashvili’s rule was bloody, recognising nine years of state-building and order

“The United National Movement has not broken. We remain the most uncorruptible, unyielding party; the most patriotic Georgian party in the country. This party will ultimately prevail and resume nine years of state-building in Georgia,” UNM member Irakli Pavlenishvili declared during an address to supporters in Tbilisi’s Rike Park.

Pavlenishvili told the crowd that former President Mikheil Saakashvili had sacrificed his personal freedom and returned to Georgia out of sheer patriotism.

“He took this step because he loves this country and its people. He knew what Putin had planned for Georgia, and he knew what Ivanishvili was preparing. That is why he put his health and life on the line to return home and set an example of ultimate self-sacrifice. So many of our fellow citizens now see through the propaganda. They have freed themselves from the main Russian lie: that his tenure was a bloody nine years of violence and abuse, rather than nine years of state-building, law and order, and national development,” Pavlenishvili said.

The UNM rally in Rike Park is calling for Saakashvili’s immediate release. Demonstrators have deployed banners reading ‘Freedom for Mikheil Saakashvili’ and ‘Mr Trump, the Georgian People Demand the MEGOBARI Act’, and also portraits of party figures including Levan Khabeishvili, Murtaz Zodelava, Irakli Nadiradze, Zviad Kuprava, and Giorgi Baramidze.