Interior Ministry: Saakashvili hasn’t crossed into Georgia, Ukraine also confirms
The Georgian Interior Ministry did not say whether the video released by ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili is a fake or not.
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The Georgian Interior Ministry says that Saakashvili has not crossed the Georgian border and that Ukraine has also confirmed that the Georgian ex-president has not left the country.
The ministry says that if Saakashvili crosses into Georgia, he will be arrested.
Saakashvili, who currently chairs the executive committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council as a citizen of Ukraine, released a live video allegedly from the Georgian coastal city of Batumi late last night and said that he is already in Georgia ahead of tomorrow’s municipal elections.
In the video Saakashvili has urged the public to vote for the United National Movement (UNM) in the elections and if not the UNM, then for some other, smaller, ‘real opposition parties’ and not for the Georgian Dream ruling party (GD) or ex-PM Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia party.
He said that he will not appear in public until election day is over and called on Georgians to take to the streets on October 3.
Saakashvili, who faces a number of criminal charges in Georgia, said in the video that he has ‘put his life at risk’ by returning.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that Saakashvili’s Batumi video is ‘fake,’ while the UNM claims Saakashvili really returned and that he will appear in public tomorrow.
The United National Movement (UNM) opposition party held a media briefing earlier today in which they said that the Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili has ‘really returned’ ahead of tomorrow’s municipal elections. UNM representative Eka Kherkheulidze said that she doesn't know how Saakashvili managed to return. However, she added that the ‘country’s intelligence service is even unable to prevent the entry of Russian spies.’
Head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Irakli Kobakhidze says that Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s recently released video allegedly from the Georgian city of Batumi is a fake and that Saakashvili is a ‘clown.’ “I can say for sure that the video is fake. Saakashvili is not in Georgia,” Kobakhidze said. The Georgian Interior Ministry also claims that Saakashvili has not crossed the Georgian border.
Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili released a live video allegedly from Georgia’s coastal city of Batumi late yesterday and said that he is already in Georgia ahead of tomorrow’s municipal elections. In the video Saakashvili has urged the public to vote for the United National Movement (UNM) in the elections and if not the UNM, then some other, smaller, ‘real opposition parties’ and not for the Georgian Dream ruling party (GD) or ex-PM Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia party.
MEP Viola Von Cramon has stated that former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s return to the country for the October 2 municipal elections ‘will not serve the interests of Georgia,’ noting that it will deepen the crisis and create unnecessary tension. Saakashvili pledged earlier in September that he will return to Georgia for the local elections and published a photo of a reserved ticket from Ukraine to Georgia yesterday.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) MP Mamuka Mdinaradze says that the country’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili is in the Ukrainian resort town of Truskavets and not in Batumi, Georgia as Saakashvili claims.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili is unhappy with both the government and the opposition’s reactions to Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s recently released video in which he claims he is in Georgia ahead of tomorrow’s municipal elections.
Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili has been detained today, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has announced. "Our law enforcement agencies had prior information about his (Saakashvili’s) movement from Ukraine to Georgia and the process was under the control” Garibashvili stated.
Former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili and Ukrainian MP from the ruling Servant of the People party Liza Yasko have announced their relationship on Facebook earlier this evening. Yasko, 31, posted a video on her Facebook page with Saakashvili in which the ex-president of Georgia, who was detained by Georgian law enforcement just several hours ago, said that he had created a new family with Yasko.
Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office has charged the owner of a flat where ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili was hiding before being recently detained. The Prosecutor's Office says that the owner of the flat, identified only as E.Ts., knew that Saakashvili was wanted by Georgian law enforcement officers for serious crimes. Nevertheless, E.Ts. handed over his apartment to Saakashvili for temporary residence and hiding.