Zourabichvili Condemns Japaridze Verdict as Political Repression
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, May 23, 2025
Salome Zourabichvili, the fifth president of Georgia, sharply criticized the recent arrest of Zurab Girchi Japaridze, leader of the Girchi - More Freedom party, calling it a political case and a clear sign of growing repression against opposition leaders.
In a video statement following the court's decision to place Japaridze in pretrial detention, Zourabichvili said, "The verdict handed down today is a verdict for the Georgian Dream." She accused the ruling party of using the legal system to silence dissent and predicted that regimes which resort to such tactics are ultimately headed toward collapse.
Zourabichvili described these events as deeply troubling. "Today is another very shameful day for the Georgian Dream," she said, pointing to the heavy police presence at Tbilisi City Court, the limited access for the public, and the use of a small courtroom for the hearing. "Everything they tried to do today, to end it with what everyone knew in advance , that Zurab Japaridze would be sent to pretrial detention, is shameful."
She emphasized that the case has no legal basis and is entirely political. According to her, the real purpose of the parliamentary investigative commission is not to examine past government wrongdoing, but to create a tool for targeting political opponents.
"This is the beginning of a direct political attack on leaders," she said. "We already have public activists and public figures in prison for absolutely nothing. Now the next step is going after political leaders."
Zourabichvilj framed the ruling as part of a broader pattern of authoritarian behavior by the Georgian Dream government. "This is another sign of their weakness, that they no longer know how far to take the repression. Every regime that finds itself in this position and resorts to such measures is doomed to collapse."
She ended her statement with a call for resolve. "We really need endurance, but we must understand that today's verdict is a verdict for the Georgian Dream."
