UNM’s Khabeishvili calls his case political, claims rights fully restricted

Levan Khabeishvili, chair of the political council of the United National Movement, said during a court hearing that his case is entirely political and that his basic rights have been fully restricted.

“All my rights are restricted. Let the court tell me I am dead. No phone, no contact with my children. I do not understand, am I a murderer?” Khabeishvili said in court.

He claimed the charges against him were based solely on political statements, not criminal actions. According to Khabeishvili, prosecutors repeatedly provoke him during hearings and seek to have him imprisoned, while his witnesses are not summoned.

“They charge me in the name of Georgia, so people should know that in all this time they have not produced a single witness. This case exists nowhere else,” he said.

Khabeishvili also referred to “political prisoners”, saying responsibility should not be shifted onto them and questioning calls for pardons. He argued that there were only two ways to deal with hostages - confrontation or dialogue, adding that meaningful dialogue was being avoided.

He said he was ashamed that people continued to fight “heroically” while, in his view, the country was living in falsehood. Khabeishvili added that dialogue, however difficult, was necessary and said that if he were free, he would take full responsibility for defending those he described as political prisoners - those arrested during anti-governmental protests.