Opposition leader Khoshtaria rejects bail, vows to continue political struggle from prison

Opposition leader Elene Khoshtaria has declared she will not accept bail to secure her release from custody, insisting that doing so would betray her principles and undermine the political struggle she leads.

Khoshtaria, member of the Coalition for Change and founder of the Droa party, said in a statement on Wednesday from detention that anyone paying the 5,000-lari bail set by the court would be “stabbing her in the heart.”

“Paying bail and leaving prison is not freedom - it is a ransom to open the prison door, which I will not pay,” she wrote, adding that her imprisonment was “as unlawful as the detention of many free people” and does not mean her fight will stop.

She stressed that remaining behind bars was not her choice, but that she could not participate in what she called a “lie and a farce” by accepting bail. “My choice is never to do anything in this struggle that I could not explain to my conscience or to you,” Khoshtaria said, vowing to continue the fight “until victory.”

Khoshtaria was arrested on charges of intentional property damage following an incident on 14 September in Tbilisi, where she is accused of spray-painting or writing slogans such as “Russian Dream” on campaign banners belonging to Kakha Kaladze, the ruling party candidate for Tbilisi mayor.