Giorgi Baramidze Detained on High Treason Charges Over Abkhazia War Remarks
By Messenger Staff
Monday, September 14, 2026
Giorgi Baramidze, a member of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) and former interior and defense minister, was detained at his Tbilisi apartment on September 11 on charges of high treason, specifically sabotage, over remarks he made about the treatment of prisoners during the 1992-1993 armed conflict in Abkhazia.
The case stems from comments Baramidze made during a July episode of the YouTube programme Birth of Georgia, in which he discussed his role during the war and his efforts to secure the release of Georgian prisoners.
Baramidze said prisoner exchanges had stopped because the Georgian side did not have prisoners to exchange.
"They [the separatists] stopped giving us prisoners, because we didn't have prisoners. Our side was not taking prisoners," he said.
Asked by the program's host, Free People's Party leader Iago Khvichia, why the Georgian side was not taking prisoners, Baramidze replied: "They [our side] were executing [them]."
He also said he had personally gone to the front line several times to prevent captured people from being killed so they could later be exchanged.
The Prosecutor General's Office opened an investigation into the remarks nearly a month before Baramidze's arrest. Prosecutors said the investigation was conducted under Articles 307-prima, covering high treason, and 318, covering sabotage, of the Criminal Code.
The Prosecutor's Office said the investigation "has unequivocally ruled out any instances of the execution of prisoners of war by members of the Georgian armed forces or other war participants during the armed conflict."
"The information disseminated by Giorgi Baramidze is unfounded and made up, carries a deliberately ideological-informational character, and serves to damage Georgia's state and national interests, foreign security, defense capabilities, and state institutions," the agency said.
Prosecutors said the alleged offence carries a prison sentence of up to four years. They will seek Baramidze's pre-trial detention, with the court yet to rule on the measure.
Baramidze's detention was broadcast live on Facebook by his wife, Anna Fylypchuk. The footage showed several officers completing an arrest report while allowing Baramidze to change clothes. The officers then handcuffed him and escorted him from the apartment into an elevator, after which the livestream ended.
Baramidze later sought to clarify his remarks. In a statement on August 8, he said he should have chosen different wording during the programme.
"It would have been better to use different wording," he said, adding that he should have used language "that would not confuse anyone and would more accurately reflect the objective events."
"I never said that our side was shooting people who had their hands raised or were prisoners. I have never seen anything like that, nor am I aware of any such facts," Baramidze said.
At a court hearing following his detention, Baramidze again rejected the prosecution's interpretation of his comments.
"They claim that my statement undermined the patriotic spirit of the military. On the contrary, the spirit of our military is undermined when the current government blames its own country for starting the war instead of [blaming] Russia," he said.
Baramidze said he had been referring to people whose family members had been killed during the conflict, rather than to the Georgian armed forces or the execution of prisoners.
"I was not speaking about the Georgian armed forces, but about people whose families had been massacred, whose mothers, fathers and children had been killed, and who took up arms to defend their homeland," he said.
He acknowledged that using the word "executed" had been a mistake.
"I acknowledge that the word 'executed' naturally creates an association, and I should not have used it. I should have been more careful," he said.
Baramidze also pointed to his involvement in prisoner exchanges, saying nearly 200 prisoners had been exchanged during the conflict.
"If we had not had prisoners, how could we have exchanged them?! We exchanged nearly 200 prisoners," he said.
He said he planned to bring witnesses to the substantive court proceedings, including people involved in prisoner exchanges and a person he said he had personally helped release from captivity.
Baramidze also apologised to people who had been upset by his comments.
"If I unintentionally hurt anyone, I apologize to those who became victims of this propaganda and nevertheless fell for this Russian propaganda; to those who did not see my interview and were emotionally affected by it," he said.
First Deputy Speaker of Georgian Dream-led Parliament Gia Volski defended the prosecution and said Baramidze's comments amounted to unsupported accusations against Georgian military personnel.
"Making such categorical and baseless accusations against Georgian military personnel, claiming they committed such grave crimes, may well serve the interests of the opposing side," Volski told journalists.
Volski said reopening unresolved issues from the conflict could deepen divisions and serve Russia's interests.
"Fomenting hatred toward Georgians and reopening wounds that have yet to heal is, of course, a primary objective of our adversary, and the statement made by Baramidze serves that very purpose," he said.
The UNM has condemned Baramidze's detention as politically motivated. Party member Ana Tsitlidze said his arrest was the result of Russian pressure and accused the Georgian authorities of following orders from Bidzina Ivanishvili.
"A man who fought with a weapon in his hands for Georgia's territorial integrity, who devoted his entire life to fighting for this country's independence and freedom, and who fought against Russia in Ukraine, has been detained solely because they are carrying out Russia's orders," Tsitlidze said.
She also questioned the independence of the court proceedings.
"It does not matter at all what decision the court makes today regarding the pre-trial measure. We understand very well that there is no court at all, and the court will carry out whatever order Bidzina Ivanishvili gives," she said.
