“We demand that Irakli Kobakhidze be questioned as a witness—he ought to have the most information regarding the occupation. He himself confirms that following 2012, the occupation forces of the Russian Federation made no advances into Georgian territory,” stated Berdia Sichinava, Executive Secretary of the “Gakharia – For Georgia” party and attorney for Giorgi Gakharia, commenting on the trial on the merits of the so-called Chorchana case.
According to him, the statement made by Irakli Kobakhidze himself sheds light on the matter and proves the falsity of the “lies and propaganda” inflated over the years, which alleged that the country lost millions of square meters of land due to a checkpoint established on Georgian territory.
“Today, the hearing on the merits of the Chorchana case is underway. Based on our information, the prosecution will not present witnesses at today’s court session, and the court will merely formally review the issue of revising the preventive measure. However, today the defense will file a motion to admit additional evidence, and in connection with this, we will also demand the questioning of Irakli Kobakhidze as a witness. This concerns the fact that all this time, ‘Georgian Dream’ propagandists and disinformation peddlers have claimed in parliament that the country lost a million square meters of land as a result of a police operation conducted by Giorgi Gakharia, when a police checkpoint was set up in Chorchana on territory under our control. This claim was widely disseminated by Irakli Kobakhidze himself and MPs controlled by Mdinaradze in parliament.
I would like to recall that on August 11, 2026, Irakli Kobakhidze made a statement in which he inadvertently disclosed the actual facts. At the memorial in Shindisi, Irakli Kobakhidze stated that Russia had made no territorial advances after 2012. In effect, he directly admitted that the narrative surrounding Chorchana—claiming that the deployment of the police checkpoint cost the country territorial occupation—was pure fabrication, a propaganda talking point that matched the messages of the Tskhinvali occupation regime to the letter. When is this man lying? As the saying goes, a liar has neither memory nor conscience, and it is a fact that he possesses neither. He forgot what kind of case he initiated against Giorgi Gakharia over Chorchana. I hope the court admits this speech by Irakli Kobakhidze as evidence and that we will summon him to court, as this individual, designated as the head of government and Prime Minister of Georgia, must possess the greatest amount of information regarding the occupation. He himself confirms that after 2012, the occupation forces of the Russian Federation made no advance across Georgian territory, and the narrative that the construction of the checkpoint in Chorchana led to the occupation of additional territories is a complete lie. On the contrary, in Chorchana, on territory under our control, Giorgi Gakharia preserved 16 million square meters for our country. We shall see what decision the court renders, and I hope it will not declare that the words of the sitting Prime Minister of Georgia mean nothing,” Sichinava stated.