Giorgi Baramidze, one of the leaders of the United National Movement (UNM), has been detained. Law enforcement officers escorted him from his home in handcuffs.
Video footage of the detention was posted on social media by Baramidze’s wife.
“I was told that I am being detained for high treason,” the opposition politician said during a Facebook Live broadcast.
In the video, Baramidze can be heard saying: “Aren’t you ashamed to tell me that [you are detaining me for treason]?”
A briefing by Deputy Prosecutor General Amiran Guluashvili is scheduled for 19:00.
Earlier, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Georgia launched an investigation into the opposition politician on charges of high treason and sabotage. The case concerns an interview in which Baramidze stated that during the war in Abkhazia, “we had no prisoners, our men were not taken captive, they were shot.”
