During the interview, Baramidze said Georgian forces initially had few prisoners to exchange because, at the beginning of the war, captured enemy fighters were being killed
Author
Front News Georgia
Georgia's opposition United National Movement (UNM) has condemned the Prosecutor General's decision to investigate senior party member Giorgi Baramidze on suspicion of treason and sabotage, describing the case as politically motivated.
The Prosecutor General's Office said this week the investigation was launched following a complaint from the State Service of Veterans Affairs over remarks Baramidze made during an interview on the programme The Birth of Georgia about the 1992-93 war in the [currently Rusian-controlled] Abkhazia and the exchange of prisoners.
During the interview, Baramidze said Georgian forces initially had few prisoners to exchange because, at the beginning of the war, captured enemy fighters were being killed.
"When there is war, people kill each other," Baramidze said. "Of course, it was not necessary at all, but when someone's cousin, brother or friend has been killed, it is very difficult to control emotions."
He added that Russian-backed Abkhaz forces captured significantly more prisoners, saying their side maintained "Russian discipline."
"They had far more prisoners. Beslan Kobakhia, who represented the separatist side in the negotiations, would tell me, 'I'll give you ten, but you have to give me one.' That was roughly the ratio," Baramidze said.
He said he personally travelled to the front line to prevent captured fighters from being killed so they could later be exchanged.
"In order to obtain prisoners for exchanges, I had to go to the front line and physically shield them from being shot. On one or two occasions, I was nearly shot myself during the process," he said.
Responding to the investigation, UNM Governing Board Chairman Irakli Pavlenishvili accused the ruling Georgian Dream government of politically targeting Baramidze.
"The Ivanishvili regime's goal is to arrest everyone who is unacceptable both to the Kremlin and to Bidzina Ivanishvili," Pavlenishvili told a news briefing, adding that the case had "no legal basis" and expressing the party's full support for Baramidze.
Baramidze rejected the allegations against him, saying his remarks were taken out of context and did not accuse the Georgian military of wrongdoing.
"I blamed no one. Russia is the occupying power, and that question has already been settled," he said.
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Giorgi Baramidze
