Court debates pre-trial detention for Saakashvili
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Tbilisi City Court is preparing for a hearing to discuss imposing preventative measures on former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili in absentia this evening.
Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion in Court asking Saakashvili be sentenced to pre-trial detention. Georgia’s former leader is currently facing criminal charges relating to exceeding authority.
To clarify, Saakashvili has been charged with the unlawful seizure of Imedi TV and other assets owned at the time by tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, who died in February 2008, as well as exceeding official authorities that stemmed from the breakup of November 7, 2007 anti-government protests.
An investigation is ongoing under Part three of Article 333 of the Criminal Code which related to exceeding official powers and carried a prison sentence from five to eight years.
Saakashvili, who is currently in Hungary, left Georgia in November 2013 when his second and final presidential term ended. Speaking from Budapest earlier this week, Saakashvili dismissed the charges against him and said his case was a political witch-hunt.
Other former government officials have been charged alongside Saakashvili for their role in the same case. Charges have been filed against Vano Merabishvili, who was the Interior Minister in 2007, the then Chief Prosecutor Zurab Adeishvili, former Defence Minister Davit Kezerashvili and Gigi Ugulava, who at the time was Tbilisi Mayor.
In this case, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office asked for preventive measures to be imposed on Saakashvili, Adeishvili and Kezerashvili only, as Merabishvili and Ugulava were earlier detained for other criminal matters.
Saakashvili is currently in Hungary while Kezerashvili is in France.
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