UNM’s Tsitlidze claims Baramidze’s arrest creates “yet another political prisoner” acting on direct orders from Moscow

“With the detention of Giorgi Baramidze, Georgia has gained yet another political prisoner,” declared United National Movement (UNM) member Ana Tsitlidze, who dismissed the legal proceedings as a complete absurdity.

“The arrest of Giorgi Baramidze served one sole purpose: to carry out the orders they received from Russia. I would remind the public that only a few months ago, it was the Russians themselves who sentenced Gia Baramidze in absentia to a lengthy prison term for fighting against Russia in Ukraine.

Beyond that, Giorgi Baramidze’s arrest is an outright absurdity. If anyone ought to be punished for high treason, it is the Georgian Dream regime that blames its own country for starting the war and insults the heroes of 2008 daily,” Tsitlidze stated.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia arrested former Minister of Internal Affairs and Defence (2003–2004) Giorgi Baramidze pursuant to a court warrant on charges of state treason, specifically manifested through sabotage. The court remanded Baramidze in custody following his arrest.

The charges carry a potential sentence of up to four years’ imprisonment. According to the official statement issued by prosecutors, during a July broadcast of Iago Khvichia’s program ‘The Birth of Georgia’, Baramidze alleged that during the initial phase of the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia, Georgian forces did not take prisoners and executed them on the spot—thereby accusing the national armed forces of violating international humanitarian law and committing grave war crimes.