Opposition must abandon ‘pleading’ approach to Ivanishvili, ex-Pres Saakashvili

Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili has accused parts of the opposition of showing weakness toward the ruling authorities, saying appeals for negotiations, pardons and elections “only strengthen an increasingly authoritarian system.”

In a lengthy social media statement published after a recent anti-government protest, Saakashvili argued that the opposition should abandon the “pleading” approach toward Bidzina Ivanishvili, the ruling party founder and honorary chair, and instead focus on organised resistance.

“The more we beg, the less we receive,” Saakashvili wrote. “This pleading only gives sadistic pleasure to the dictator.”

Saakashvili also described an incident during a court hearing on 25 May, claiming he had been subjected to intimidation and excessive force by prison escorts and security officials.

According to the former president, the hearing was deliberately disrupted, he was denied the opportunity to speak and was forcibly removed after attempting to address the court in Georgian and Ukrainian.

He claimed the incident was intended to humiliate him ahead of Georgia’s Independence Day celebrations on 26 May.

Saakashvili said the events demonstrated that the authorities interpret compromise and humanitarian appeals as weakness.

He accused political opponents of Ivanishvili of exposing themselves politically through requests for negotiations, appeals for pardons for detained protesters and continued expectations of elections as a solution to the crisis.

“The only language they understand is the language of strength born from organised resistance,” he wrote.

In the statement, Saakashvili called on supporters to resist what he described as abuses of power at every level - from local officials to the central government.

He criticised what he said was public passivity during arrests and clashes at protests, arguing that citizens should become more organised in defending themselves and others from violence and intimidation.

Saakashvili also warned that Georgia’s future could not depend solely on international support from the United States, Europe or Ukraine.

“The nation that constantly waits for liberation from abroad is not worthy of freedom,” he wrote.

The former president concluded by urging supporters to build grassroots networks of resistance within communities and social circles, arguing that collective organisation represented the only effective response to what he described as a growing authoritarian threat in Georgia.