Georgia’s ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili steps down as head of Ukraine’s Odessa region
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Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili has resigned from his post as governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region today.
Saakashvili, who served as Georgia’s third president from 2004-2007 and again from 2008-2013, announced his resignation at a special press briefing earlier today.
He accused Ukrainian authorities of corruption and said Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko personally supported two corrupt clans in Odessa.
Saakashvili said despite his resignation, he would continue his fight against corruption in Ukraine along with young and honest forces.
Below is a tweet from analyst of American politics, political development and Eurasia specialist Lincoln Mitchell.
#Saakashvili has resigned and turned on his patrons. He has gone full #Trotsky calling for permanent revolution.
— ((Lincoln Mitchell)) (@LincolnMitchell) November 7, 2016
Prior to this, another Georgian ex-official in Odessa, chief of Odessa police Giorgi Lortkipanidze resigned. Lortkipanidze was deputy interior minister of Georgia under Saakashvili’s government and was sentenced to imprisonment in absentia by Georgian court for abuse of official powers.
Meanwhile Saakashvili held the post of Odessa governor since May 2015.
In 2014 Saakashvili was officially charged for his role in several crimes in Georgia however by the time his case went through court he was in already Ukraine.
On May 30, 2015 Ukraine’s president appointed Saakashvili as head of the country’s Odessa region. At the same time he was also granted Ukrainian citizenship.
Receiving Ukrainian citizenship meant Saakashvili’s Georgian citizenship was automatically revoked, as Georgian legislation prohibited people from holding dual citizenship, except for in exceptional circumstances.
Saakashvili is no longer a Georgian citizen and if he returned to Georgia he will face a court of law.
“Whatever the election outcome, I won’t return to Georgia”
Georgia’s ex-President and now governor of Odessa in Ukraine says he will not return to Georgia, regardless of the Parliamentary Election results.
UPDATED: 18:21: United National Movement (UNM) members who were summoned to appear at Georgia's State Security Service this evening have refused to accept their summons.
Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili can no longer call himself a Georgian citizen.Today the country’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili signed a decree to annul the Georgian citizenship of the former president.
Today Tbilisi City Court imposed a sentence of pre-trial detention for Georgia’s ex-Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Lortkipanidze for his role in the 2011 incident.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has made his first comment on the resignation of Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili from his post of governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region.
Several leaders of the party that governed Georgia from 2004-2012 announced their departure from the United National Movement today and their intentions to create a new political party.
Georgia’s largest opposition party United National Movement (UNM) held a party meeting today to elect its new leadership.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko stated in Tbilisi today that the extradition of Georgia’s third President Mikheil Saakashvili, who faces several charges in Georgia, is dependent on the request from Georgia’s Government.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili hosted Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko in the afternoon and discussed issues of common interests and existing challenges for the two countries with him.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has stated that he did not know that Georgia has already requested Georgia’s third President Mikheil Saakashvili’s extradition.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has issued a decree to annul the Ukrainian citizenship of the former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili. It means that Saakashvili will no more be a Ukrainian citizen.
Georgia’s third President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is charged with several crimes in Georgia, has been detained by Ukrainian security forces today in Kiev. Saakashvili is charged with cooperating with criminal groups and the cover up of offenses committed by them.