UNM's Giorgi Baramidze Arrested on Treason and Sabotage Charges Over Abkhazia War Remarks

Prosecutors arrested Giorgi Baramidze -- a United National Movement figure and former interior and defense minister -- at his Tbilisi home on high-treason and sabotage charges carrying up to four years in prison, over a July 18 interview in which he said Georgian forces 'were executing' prisoners during the 1992-93 Abkhazia war before later softening the remark. The Prosecutor General's Office called his comments 'unfounded and made up' and said its own investigation had 'unequivocally ruled out' any execution of prisoners; his wife livestreamed the arrest at their apartment.