"Practically the whole valley is transferred to the ownership of a foreign company. This is the N1 issue of our protest. For us, this is a red line, which in no case can be sorted and resolved in the conditions of this communication. We consider it inadmissible to transfer the valley in private ownership to someone forever. Their ethnic origin doesn’t matter…" - Varlam Goletiani, guardian of the Rioni valley and organizer of continuous protests.

"This HPP will not be ours. It's owned by someone else, a foreign company. The same goes for the tariff, how the owner manages this electricity, it is his prerogative. As stated in the contract, after 15 years he can dispose of this energy as he wishes because it is his property. "It won’t bring independence to the country's energy," Goletiani said.

"There are no fundamental conclusions that ensure the safety of the HPP. Rioni valley is a seismically active zone, there are landslide areas, there is a micro-zone of Tvishi [Georgian wine variety], which will be damaged and no one has answers for this." - Goletiani stated.

"The Central Dispatch of Georgia decides on the export of electricity or access to the local market. That means, the Georgian government decides whether or not to export this or that type of electricity. This trade is not free, because it depends on the central dispatcher, who can restrict and not allow the export of electricity, and such cases are frequent. I will be happy if Georgia becomes an exporter of electricity. I will be happy if money enters the country in exchange for electricity and not in exchange for the slave labor that our fellow citizens do in different countries,” said the project director, Lominadze.

"They do not want us to have a dialogue in an equal environment."

"Against the background of the current political process and the protests announced in the future, the tightening of sanctions for petty hooliganism and disobedience to the lawful request of a law enforcement official will help to establish self-censorship in the country."

"I was Live on Facebook and I was silent at that rally. At one point I didn’t feel good and sat on the ground. Then I heard the voice of the police chief, calling to arrest me and they arrested me. Neither the police officer detaining me said I was resisting, there was no footage of my obscene expression, but the judge simply decided to confirm the position of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and decided to fine me 1,000 GEL. These two articles are very common, even if you look at the detention protocols, everyone writes the same article", Kakabadze recalls the arrest episode.

"Shameful slaves... [PM Irakli] Garibashvili, you do not deserve to stand there now and respect the memory of the people who sacrificed themselves for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia," he chanted.

"It is directly aimed at minimizing the protest and sowing fear among the activists as much as possible. Instead of reducing the sanctions on these articles, tightening these measures is a step backwards," he said. Mumladze has been arrested at least five times since January 2021.

"Over the years, this code has seen a number of changes, but essentially nothing has changed that would improve the standards," Kurdovanidze said.

"In particular, the evidence is almost never properly investigated and the court only shares the explanations of the police," the lawyer said.

"It is clear from the statistics that the current penalty size for committing administrative offenses under Articles 166 and 173 of the Administrative Code does not ensure the prevention of these offenses. These violate public order and governance."