Aza Chilachava —
“I was asleep that day. They woke me up and said, ‘You hit your head, didn’t you? Now we have to check you.’

I told them, ‘Grandma didn’t hit her head, I didn’t hit anything.’
They said, ‘No, no, we have to check you, a psychologist is coming, sign here.’
I didn’t even know what I was being asked to sign. I told them, ‘I’m not signing anything — I didn’t hit my head.’

There was a camera there, but I guess they turned it off, I don’t know. They kept insisting, ‘You hit your head, we need to examine you.’

I’m preparing myself — they’ll arrest me tonight.
Whether it’s a criminal charge or whatever, I don’t pity myself. I’m fighting for those young people sitting in cells, those who are imprisoned.

When I brought out my bag, they returned everything to me. What did I have in that bag? A flag. I took it out and put it on right there. I told them, ‘I will never hide this flag,’ and I put it on. They laughed.

Now I’m ready for the evening. I’m just waiting for it to get dark so I can go. I know they’ll arrest me.

When they put handcuffs on me, my heart broke —
It broke because I have so many relatives, and not one of them was there.

One of the young officers said, ‘What small, delicate hands you have, Grandma. I won’t tighten them,’
and he put them on gently.”

Leila Tzomaia:
“You know what — the Georgian nation is fundamentally a fighting people. Historically there were times we were defeated, but we never surrendered. How could we possibly surrender now, before Ivanishvili’s unlawful government? When a shadow ruler stands at the head of power, it insults our dignity.

Protest is building inside us, and the numbers we see here are only a fraction — the real reservoir of dissent is many times larger, a hundredfold. They are trying to pull us away from our European course and effectively return us to the Soviet orbit. No Georgian — whether middle class, elite, or intellectual — will accept that.

An uprising is already fermenting among the people, and they know perfectly well that this is not the mass they can rely on. That is why there must be no retreat. I have never been afraid of any regime — not even of Shevardnadze’s, which strangled us — yet we moved forward; progress came afterwards. Progress will come now too, and very soon. There is no ground for despair among Georgians.

So people must come, fight, and not expect to be spared risk or to stand chained and alive. Come and stand — even for one hour physically. It is not a great sacrifice for them, but it is a duty each individual must have.”

Mrs. Aza is Georgia itself, and we must protect both our country and people like her — like Eto and others like them.
This is what humanity means.
Throughout history, we’ve been drained by oppressors and persecutors — what else could you be, if you do such things, except a tormentor?