Former Georgian Prime Minister and former chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Garibashvili, who is imprisoned on corruption charges, published the extended letter he promised yesterday. In it, he claims that he was being pressured to admit to a new corruption charge in order to completely rule out his return to politics.

"I want to tell the public the truth about why I'm in prison," Garibashvili writes.

According to him, last year's government campaign under the slogan "fighting corruption" was initially aimed at sending him to prison and "destroying him politically." Garibashvili claims that he tried to avoid conflict with his former allies until the very end. For this reason, the politician writes, he abandoned the legal battle and "obediently endured this 'destructive' process, because he did not want to harm the interests of the state and his team."

According to the former prime minister, in July he unexpectedly received a letter from Mamuka Mdinaradze, one of the leaders of the Georgian Dream party. Garibashvili had already published this letter the day before, and now he has described the subsequent events in detail.

He claims that, in response to his assurances that he did not intend to return to politics, he was informed of a remaining "1% probability" of such a return. Garibashvili claims that, in order to eliminate even this risk, he was offered a new corruption charge, which he would have to admit.

"Unfortunately, in return I received a dirty, staged provocation, a sea of ​​lies and injustice," the former prime minister declares.

He writes that he has deliberately remained silent on the events and "has accepted this ordeal with complete humility and patience." However, now, he says, the situation has crossed a line.

"This became the red line that forced me to take the most difficult step in my life," Garibashvili writes.

He adds: "Consequently, since I have no other choice, I am being forced to start a fight."

Garibashvili's first statement appeared on August 17. He then stated that from now on, responsibility for his safety and the safety of his family rests with Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili and the entire Georgian government. The former prime minister promised to disclose the reasons for this statement the following day.

The publication provoked a sharp reaction within Georgian Dream itself.

In particular, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated that he had seen Garibashvili's statement but did not intend to discuss it in detail.

"This is a very problematic statement, and I will not make any further comments. It's problematic not for us, but for him," he emphasized.

Kobakhidze cited Garibashvili's sentence and stated that law enforcement agencies should resolve further issues. He also said that he had spoken with Ivanishvili the day before, but assured that they had not discussed Garibashvili's letter.

Georgian Dream MP Gia Volsky offered an even harsher assessment of the former prime minister's address. He called the letter "pathetic" and claimed that its main goal was to discredit the government and Ivanishvili personally.

"That is, the goal is clearly evident here—to discredit state structures and Bidzina Ivanishvili personally at all costs. Nothing else can be read in this pathetic letter," Volsky stated.