Vice-Colonel Malkhaz Topuria believes Gia Baramidze is pressured from abroad, making statements pleasing Russian politicians

“I heard explanations from Gia Baramidze which turned even more inaudible. I presume Gia Baramidze is pressured from abroad, forced to make statements that would please Zatulin and Migranyan (Konstantin Zatulin, Russian politician; Andranik Migranyan, Armenian-Russian political scientist),” said Malkhaz Topuria, Vice-Colonel, Veteran of the Abkhazian and 2008 wars.

According to Topuria, Baramidze pretended to be naive as if he did not understand why people were angry.

Vice-Colonel went on to say that the lawsuits filed in the Hague Court, which Georgia won, serve as a “burden for the Russian judiciary in the international arena,” and such statements create “comfortable conditions for Russia to get free from this pressure.”

Malkhaz Topuria stated that with the statement, Gia Baramidze insulted each soldier but added that the UNM made many anti-Georgian statements.

“He stated that Georgian soldiers shot prisoners, and he justifies it. It is a rule that if you get angry, you have to execute. A man who has been a law-enforcement minister twice and a five-time MP says such things. I say again, he understands very well what he said,” Topuria said.

The matter concerns a statement made by Gia Baramidze, one of the leaders of the United National Movement (UNM), according to which “during the war in Abkhazia, Georgian military personnel executed prisoners, which is why the Abkhaz side refused to hand captives over.”