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

I think that our society will not allow anyone to establish a dictatorship again in the future. [Mikhail] Saakashvili will fail.

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.

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.

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.

I would like to see more control and more criticism coming from Europe. The constant expressions of friendship for former President Eduard Shevardnadze, who made some contribution to German unity, were counterproductive for our country.