Read by Guillaume Gallienne at the National Assembly during the symposium “Resistance Through Culture: A Georgian Struggle”

I am happy and grateful that my voice, from a Georgian prison and during my political detention, is reaching France—a country that knows better than anyone the price of freedom and ideals; a country that, as early as the 20th century, stood alongside an independent Georgia, our First Republic; a country that is today a leader in Europe and in the free world.

I am writing to you from prison, but I am not discouraged. On the contrary, I am proud to have the privilege of fighting for freedom and European values, even at the cost of imprisonment.

I am not the only political prisoner. Today, I represent more than a hundred political prisoners—politicians, artists, painters, journalists, doctors—people who are making sacrifices in the confrontation with Russia. Likewise, there are hundreds of thousands of Georgians who, for the past two years, have been protesting daily, despite beatings, the use of toxic substances during demonstrations, exorbitant fines, and threats of imprisonment.

Today in Georgia, you can be arrested for standing on a sidewalk, for a Facebook post, or for expressing your opinion. Despite all this, we have not given up, and we will not give up. The streets of Georgia are filled with our flags, as well as those of Ukraine and the European Union. My cell is decorated with drawings of those very same flags.

Today, freedom and the European ideal are in danger—in Ukraine, in Georgia, and throughout the rest of Europe. The Ukrainian people are fighting heroically against Russia; in Georgia, Russia is fighting us from within through a puppet government and hybrid warfare; and in Europe, it supports extremist and destructive actions.

Russia’s only hope lies in our disunity—the fragmentation, confusion, and division of our European family. It hopes to defeat us one by one, counting on the fact that we will fail to recognize the common threat and will not unite.

We know that we must build our democracy ourselves. That is why our main demand is for free and fair elections. Russia fears honest elections. The oligarch Ivanishvili fears them as well, because he knows the will of the Georgian people—the people want freedom and a European future.

We need your help—not to come to power, but to establish a just order. To achieve this, serious pressure must be brought to bear on the regime. Under internal and external pressure, the regime has already been significantly weakened. The sanctions are having an effect. The key is to remain steadfast in this regard.

Georgia and the entire region hold great potential for the West’s security and economy. Our role as a bridge will serve the common good. But today, along the routes intended for the exchange of goods, resources, economic activity, and culture, dirty money, blood-stained resources, and anti-European forces circulate freely—against the will of the Georgian people.

Russia must feel everywhere that the time for tolerance toward its imperialist and destructive policies is over.

Freedom! Equality! Solidarity!

Elene Khoshtaria September 17, 2026

BIO

Elene Khoshtaria is a Georgian politician and activist born in 1979 in Tbilisi. A journalist by training, she became known for her pro-European stance and her criticism of what she saw as the Georgian authorities’ drift toward authoritarianism. As the founder and leader of the opposition movement “Droa” (It’s Time), Khoshtaria has consistently denounced the concentration of power, political interference in the judiciary, and pressure on civil society.

Her imprisonment, which took place on September 15, 2025, illustrates what her supporters and several international bodies denounce as a cynical manipulation of the judicial system for the purpose of political repression. Ms. Khoshtaria was sentenced to 18 months in prison without parole for “damaging property belonging to others,” a charge that masks a ploy to silence a troublesome critical voice: she had in fact been arrested after writing the slogan “Russian Dream” on a campaign poster.