Leaders of the Georgia Ahead movement blame law enforcement for hindering the efforts of the defence team of fellow party leader, Irakli Batiashvili. Batiashvili's has been charged with high treason for providing "intellectual support" to the Kodori Gorge insurgency. On July 25, the Ministry of Internal Affairs released a recording of a phone conversation which allegedly took place between Batiashvili and former president's representative to the Kodori Gorge, Emzar Kvitsiani. Based on this evidence Batiashvili was sentenced to two months pre-trial detention. From the late 1980s, Batiashvili was actively involved in the National Liberation Movement fighting for Georgia's independence from the Soviet Union. He was centrally involved in organising the protest of April 9, 1989, which was savagely suppressed by Soviet troops, leading to the deaths of nineteen; this incident was to become one of the defining moments in the recent history of Georgia.