"The Georgian people have already passed a judgment on this case" - Mikheil Saakashvili

The third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, spoke in court about the case against him.

"That you keep showing footage of 7 November, which is very unpleasant for me, and I still don't like it, didn't you have 20 June a short while ago? Compare the number of victims from June 20 and November 7. Didn't you have Lekso Lashkarava's death a while ago?, the violence directly caused by the direct call of the man on the highest position in the nation, - said Mikhail Saakashvili.

The third president recalled the geopolitical processes and the context of the 7 November events, and said Putin had told him in 2006 that he would do everything possible to stop Georgia's move towards NATO.

Mikheil Saakashvili said that President Lukashenko told him that year that the chairman of the Olympic Committee Arkadi Patarkatsishvili wanted to meet him, and that Patarkatsishvili came to Minsk. Lukashenko then said that three FSB generals met with Patarkatsishvili in September 2007 and Putin told him that Patarkatsishvili would be the next president of Georgia.

Mikheil Saakashvili said that the SSG should have the letter from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to which in October 2007 the Georgian mafia in Yerevan were instructed to organize riots in the Georgian capital.

The third president recalls that in October of the same month a historic conference was held in Tbilisi with international partners, including US representatives and foreign ministers of friendly countries, at which it was decided to practically give Georgia the Membership Action Plan.

On November 2nd, a large demonstration was held in Tbilisi. According to Mikheil Saakashvili, he is far from believing that the rally participants were aware of Patarkatsishvili's Russian plans.

The third president of Georgia described the people's anger as objective and said that this anger was caused primarily by the painful reforms.

"They woke me up at 7am and told me there was a small clash with the police, then it turned into what happened today in front of the court. A lot of people came out after that and the Minister of Internal Affairs was in charge. I watched it on TV, I did not give any instructions and they did their duty as they understood and what was the experience of our police officers who were very young and very inexperienced. God protected us and no one was killed during these clashes, although 1 person was seriously injured. This happens in many countries and no one starts charges on this, aside from specific maniacs," said Mikheil Saakashvili.

The third president said he voluntarily resigned after November 7, something very few leaders in the world have done, shortened his presidential term by a year and a half and agreed to a new presidential election, which was difficult but he still won.

He said that after these processes, then US President George W. Bush praised him and said these were honorable moves because he was "not clinging to power".

"The Georgian people have already passed judgment on this case," Mikheil Saakashvili said.