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

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.

[Mikhail] Saakashvili will use all legal and illegal means possible to remain in power. People are being threatened to prevent them from collaborating with the opposition. At the same time, he is terrorizing the business world, which prevents the opposition from gaining any funding.

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.

The West didn't see our real situation, and we were blinded by the compliments coming from the Europeans and Americans.

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