Opposition leader Gvaramia claims charges against him are vague, incomprehensible

One of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, Nika Gvaramia, on Tuesday said during a court hearing that it was unclear to him what exactly he was being accused of.

Gvaramia added that even in a previous case he at least understood what the prosecution considered to be a criminal act, as the indictment contained specific actions. In the current case, however, he said there were not even verbs describing wrongdoing.

“In the previous case, I at least knew what the prosecution considered a crime - there were verbs there. Here, there are not even verbs. What did I do? There are two sentences, and both say that it is unknown whether I stood there or not, yet my name and surname are mentioned,” Gvaramia said.

He also questioned why the prosecution had submitted 40 volumes of case materials, including testimonies by Eka Gigauri and Nanuka Zhorzholiani, arguing that they were irrelevant to the charges against him.

“Why are you bringing me 40 volumes, including the testimonies of Eka Gigauri and Nanuka Zhorzholiani? Tell me what you are accusing me of. Tell me where you think I stood, and I’ll tell you whether I was there or not. Tell me what I said or what action I carried out, and I’ll tell you whether that is true or not. You could have brought Lenin’s 40 volumes with the same success. How am I supposed to assess this case when nothing in it is connected? The only thing I understood from the actions is that Misha wrote about a shark,” Gvaramia noted.

The trial of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, opposition leaders Giorgi Vashadze, Nika Gvaramia, Nika Melia, Zurab Japaridze, Elene Khoshtaria, Mamuka Khazaradze, and Badri Japaridze is currently underway at the Tbilisi City Court.