I worked with Mikhail Saakashvili for more than six years. I was his right-hand man. He never accused me of anything during that time. But the minute I switched to the opposition, I was suddenly called a criminal. It was a political maneuver.

As long as [Mikhail] Saakashvili is president, I will be unable to prove my innocence in Georgia. Seen in this light, there is a positive aspect to my arrest in Germany. It will be much easier for me to refute the charges here.

I made mistakes. My supporters and I failed to prevent a main like [Mikhail] Saakashvili from acquiring absolute power. I should have criticized him earlier on.

Our prison in Georgia is a very different place from this prison here in Berlin. The conditions there are inhuman.

Georgian society can no longer be divided. I don't want to see our country's best minds leaving the country to try their luck abroad.

Mikhail Saakashvili would do everything within his power to destroy me, first as a politician and then as a person. All government authorities, including the police, the military and the courts, are controlled by those in power.

I hope to be granted asylum. Deportation [ from Germany] that would be a death sentence for me.