PM Garibashvili: ex-president Saakashvili detained
Mikheil Saakashvili is charged with several criminal offences such as the violent dispersal of anti-government mass protests on November 7, 2007, raiding of TV channel Imedi by riot police, illegal take-over of the property and other crimes. Photo: IPN.
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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.
PM Garibashvili thanked Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri (left) and Head of the State Security Service Grigol Liluashvili (right) as well as all the employees involved in the arrest. Photo: the Government of Georgia.
Read PM's full statement here.
The country’s third president Saakashvili released two videos from the seaside town of Batumi earlier today saying that he is already in Georgia ahead of the October 2 municipal elections.
Mikheil Saakashvili has been arrested and transferred to a penitentiary facility. https://t.co/y2QXQ51JLW
— MIA of Georgia (@MIAofGeorgia) October 1, 2021
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party has claimed that the videos were fake noting that the former president has not crossed the border of the country.
#Georgia #Tbilisi: The first footage of #Saakashvili's arrest, published by Ministry of Internal Affairs of #Georgia pic.twitter.com/bK2fOyD87x
— agenda.ge (@agenda_ge) October 1, 2021
Saakashvili has been transferred to the 12th penitentiary institution in Rustavi.
The details about the location and time of the arrest are not yet known.
Mikheil Saakashvili is charged with several criminal offences such as the violent dispersal of anti-government mass protests on November 7, 2007, raiding of TV channel Imedi by riot police, illegal take-over of the property and other crimes.
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 arrestedSaakashvili, 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.
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.
The third Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has announced today that he will come back to Georgia for the upcoming October 2 municipal race. Saakashvili in his video address, published on his Facebook page, called on Georgian emigrants to join him and come back to the country for the elections. Saakashvili who served as the country’s third president from 2004 to 2013 left Georgia back in 2013 facing several criminal charges after the Georgian Dream (GD) came to power.
Overall six criminal charges are filed against recently arrested Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili who has been convicted to six years of imprisonment in two cases while four other criminal cases are still being heard in Tbilisi City Court.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has denied the alleged summoning of the Georgian Ambassador to Ukraine Teimuraz Sharashenidze to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry over the recent arrest of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. The ministry has stated that the diplomat of the Georgian embassy will hold a meeting with Ukrainian authorities regarding the case.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has stated that she will never pardon former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili who has been arrested on October 1 in Tbilisi. She noted that the rule of law requires detention of Saakashvili saying that ‘before the law all are equal.’
Georgian Parliament Speaker Kakha Kuchava has stated after casting his ballot in today’s municipal elections that the recent arrest of Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili will not affect ‘brotherly relations with Ukraine.’
In a letter from a Rustavi detention facility ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili says all criminal accusations against him are false. Addressing the Georgian population, Saakashvili says when he ‘left everything in Kyiv’ and arrived in Georgia he was aware that ‘most probably’ he would have been detained.
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.
The Georgian Interior Ministry says the detention of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is charged with several criminal offences, was planned in advance. Based on the information released by the ministry earlier today, Georgian law enforcers, the State Security Service and the General Prosecutor’s Office carried out a joint operation to detain ex-president Saakashvili.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who was detained in Tbilisi on October 1, will be able to leave the country only after he serves his prison sentence.
Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1, has called for a ‘high-level of mobilisation and a more powerful attack’ for the mayoral election runoffs in 20 of 64 election constituencies on October 30.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani has stated earlier today that former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili ‘possibly’ violated the Ukrainian legislature by crossing its border illegally. Zalkaliani noted that before Saakashvili became a Ukrainian citizen ‘he was the president and a citizen of Georgia and has been charged in accordance with Georgian legislation.’
The Georgian parliament has suspended the MP status of the head of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party Nika Melia with 79 votes earlier today, as Melia requested back in August 2021 to prepare for the October 2 municipal elections.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that the ‘most credible’ account of why ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili returned to Georgia after eight years in political exile was his ‘wish to overthrow the Georgian Dream government.’ However, the ‘operation was as poorly planned as Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM) had run the country while in power.’
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that the country’s recently detained ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili is staging a show with his hunger strike to spark tension ahead of municipal election runoffs on October 30.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria says that the country’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili is receiving ‘proper attention’ in Rustavi Prison No.12 and that ‘no violations of his rights’ have been reported so far by her representatives in terms of Saakashvili’s living conditions.
The Lelo and European Georgia opposition parties have refused to join a rally planned by the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party in central Tbilisi tomorrow, where demonstrators intend to demand the release of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili from prison.
A number of people in western Georgian cities are standing along the highway with brooms to protest the United National Movement (UNM) rally in Tbilisi later today, where demonstrators will demand the release of former president Mikheil Saakashvili from prison.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili commented on the rally of the United National Movement (UNM) later today, saying that ‘what Georgia needs now is peace and concentration on the issues which are crucial to the country’s further development.’ The UNM is holding a rally in central Tbilisi at 6 p.m. today to demand the release of former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili from prison.
A protest rally organized by the opposition United National Movement (UNM) in central Tbilisi demanding the release of ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who was detained on October 1 a day before the municipal elections has ended.
Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on hunger strike since his arrest in Tbilisi on October 1, says that he is ready to take medicines to ‘maintain the strength to think and act’, but vows that he will not suspend his hunger strike.
The third president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who was detained in Tbilisi on October 1, has been officially charged for the illegal crossing of the state border earlier today. Six other criminal charges are filed against Saakashvili who has been convicted to six years of imprisonment in two cases while four other criminal cases are still being heard in Tbilisi City Court.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has criticised MEP Raphael Glucksmann for his statements that the ‘judiciary is biased’ in Georgia, saying that Glucksmann is a ‘close friend of Georgia’s currently detained former president Mikheil Saakashvili.’
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly C. Degnan says that she is glad a multidisciplinary team is monitoring former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili in prison, noting that the US is also closely observing his condition.
Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze says that former president Mikheil Saakashvili is receiving all necessary medical services in Gldani Prison No.18 hospital, and that the ministry has invited more doctors to monitor Saakashvili while he is on hunger strike and who will give daily updates about the former president’s health condition.
Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s personal doctor Nikoloz Kipshidze says that it may take several months for the imprisoned ex-president to fully recover. Following a visit to Gori military hospital yesterday evening, Kipshidze said that Saakashvili feels weak, but that his blood pressure is within normal bounds.
Giorgi Narimanidze, Elguja Tsomaia, Zurab and Shalva Tsotsoria, the four individuals who helped former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili illegally enter the country last September, were released on 5,000 GEL bail by Tbilisi City Court on Thursday.
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The United National Movement opposition party is a paralysed political structure but may have chances to recover if its founder, the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, quits politics, Girchi opposition party MP Iago Khvichia said on Wednesday in comments on reports of Saakashvili planning to retire from political life.
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Ruling Georgian Dream party MP Mamuka Mdinaradze on Tuesday said “no-one can be surprised” that the country’s jailed former President Mikheil Saakashvili “s trying to escape justice”, in response to recent statements by Saakashvili’s lawyers on the politician’s “seriously deteriorated health” that allegedly requires treatment abroad.
Georgia’s justice minister Rati Bregadze on Tuesday called claims about poisoning of the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili a “slanderous campaign” and said the allegations were “immoral” and an “interference” in the work of medical professionals working to ensure his health.
Bacho Dolidze, a member of the United National Movement - the largest opposition party in Georgia - on Tuesday said the former Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili could be behind the recent release of illegal audio recording involving the party’s incumbent Chair Nika Melia.
The imprisoned former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili is “blackmailing his patrons to escape justice”, and the latter may order his assassination in custody to “kill two birds with one stone”, a statement by Popular Force, a movement founded by former members of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Monday.
Georgia’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili has lost his appeal for release or postponement of the rest of his sentence on health grounds, with Tbilisi City Court on Monday denying the application in the case that has been surrounded by public debate.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Monday alleged a group of members of the European Parliament was taking “deliberate actions to harm Georgia’s image” in a bid to facilitate an “illegal release” of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili from detention.
Irakli Kadagishvili, the Chair of the Rules and Procedural Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, on Thursday said “all international organisations” should call on the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili to “abandon the policy of self-harm” in detention.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Wednesday said “everyone inside and outside the country” who had “protected and promoted” the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili since his conviction in Georgia in absentia in 2018 had “accepted unrest” in the country.
Georgia’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili on Monday demanded to be allowed an “opportunity to openly take part in political processes” through “open debates”, and urged the public to “stand up” for his support.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday called “absurd and shameful” the calls by some members of the European Parliament on the Georgian authorities to transfer the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili to a European Union member country for “necessary and appropriate medical care”.
Health professionals invited by the Georgian Public Defender’s Office have observed “some positive dynamics” in the condition of Mikheil Saakashvili, the imprisoned former President of Georgia, pointing out his improved sleep among the trends.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday called the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili the “only saboteur” as the latter warned of a Russian “subversive group” operating in the country to “spark unrest”.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has claimed she had “never explicitly refused” to pardon Mikheil Saakashvili, the imprisoned former President of the country, telling Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Georgian service this week she “refrain[ed] from commenting on pardons unless I [openly] state my intention to pardon someone”.
Beka Dzamashvili, the Deputy Justice Minister of Georgia, on Thursday said the latest report by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment had observed “no cases of violence and mistreatment” of prisoners, including Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili, in the civilian clinic in Tbilisi where the former official has been undergoing treatment since 2022.