Georgian parliament speaker: Saakashvili’s arrest won’t affect brotherly relations with Ukraine
Georgian Parliament Speaker Kakha Kuchava has cast his ballot in today’s municipal elections. Photo: Kakha Kuchava’s Facebook page.
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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.’
Saakashvili, who currently chairs the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council, was arrested in Tbilisi late yesterday.
Saakashvili, who has been convicted to six years in prison in absentia, has urged people to vote for the United National Movement (UNM) opposition in the elections.
Ukraine and Georgia have always supported each other both in difficult and happy times,” Kuchava said.
He stated that Saakashvili has been persistently violating the law when he, as a citizen of Ukraine, was interfering in Georgia’s internal issues.
Kuchava also said that politicians had not been informed of the special operation which aimed at Saakashvili's arrest and that is why the ruling party MPs were making different statements on Saakashvili’s presence in Georgia yesterday.
Fewer people should have known about the special operation to prevent any threats,” Kuchava said.
Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili stated yesterday that ‘our law enforcement agencies had prior information about his (Saakashvili’s) movement from Ukraine to Georgia.’
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.
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.
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.
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.