“There is a reasonable suspicion that Bachiashvili was funding the activities of the radical opposition to avoid responsibility,” said First Vice-Speaker of Parliament Gia Volski.

According to him, Giorgi Bachiashvili was not and could not have become a political prisoner.

“Bachiashvili confessed to the crime because he actually committed it, and his criminal activity was reflected in concrete actions. There is a reasonable suspicion that Bachiashvili financed the activities of the radical opposition, radicalism, and extremism precisely to somehow avoid the responsibility that would inevitably be imposed on him. In Georgia, the law provides that any person who compensates even for heavy losses and confesses to a crime will be treated favorably.

Bachiashvili was not only recognized as a political prisoner, but the Georgian government was threatened with having the issue taken to an international court. This had no prospects, and Bachiashvili saw this himself. He is not an unconscious person; he is quite intelligent and understood that the totality of evidence dictated that he should not assume the role of a martyr or claim to be arrested for political motives. No matter which political party you support, you must first see clearly that Bachiashvili was not and could not have become a political prisoner,” Volski noted.