Zurab Japaridze announced his intention to pay bail in the sabotage case.

Coalition for Change leader Zurab Japaridze intends to post bail of 30,000 lari (approximately $11,000), set as a preventive measure in the "sabotage" case.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," the Tbilisi City Court on December 22 set bail of 30,000 lari for opposition politician Zurab Japaridze in the "sabotage case." The court approved the prosecutor's office's motion to ban Japaridze from leaving the country, and his identity card and passport were confiscated.

Japaridze believes the case is fabricated and sees it as a continuation of the authorities' practice of using the judicial system to pressure political opponents. The decision to post bail has sparked controversy within the opposition: some associates saw it as a political move, ostensibly acknowledging the legitimacy of the charges, according to Newsgeorgia.

Failure to post bail within the prescribed time will result in the court replacing Japaridze's pretrial detention with arrest. The politician was released from prison just two weeks ago, where he spent seven months for refusing to testify before a parliamentary commission investigating the activities of the previous government.

According to Japaridze, the deciding factor in posting bail was his family and the future of his two young children.

"I have always said that the issue of bail is a personal matter for me, and nothing could force me to consider it from the standpoint of political expediency. When the regime forces you to do something only to break you, and threatens you with prison if you disobey, for me it goes beyond 'politically right/wrong' and becomes a personal matter. This is not a question of cooperation or non-cooperation with the regime. For me, one thing is important - not to make a decision that will prevent me from sleeping peacefully at night and will make me dysfunctional. Everything else is secondary," he said.

As Japaridze writes, he would prefer to be detained for something more important than failure to post bail. The politician also believes that a re-arrest remains "very likely" regardless of whether he posts bail or not.