PM Garibashvili: ex-president Saakashvili will leave Georgia only after serving sentence
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili (R) says that ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili ‘committed crimes and he must serve his prison sentence.
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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.
Saakashvili, who currently chairs the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council as a citizen of Ukraine, was convicted in Georgia in absentia back in 2018 for abuse of authority and has been charged with several other crimes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced at a briefing yesterday that he will work to bring Saakashvili back to Ukraine using ‘various means’.
Saakashvili has been sentenced to six years in prison. We will accept no requests, from no one in the world, to release him. He will be able to leave the country only after he serves his prison term,” Garibashvili told Imedi TV late yesterday.
Mikheil Saakashvili has been arrested and transferred to a penitentiary facility. https://t.co/y2QXQ51JLW
— MIA of Georgia (@MIAofGeorgia) October 1, 2021
He stated that Saakashvili ‘has only now realised he is in prison, feels very bad and is begging for release.’
Garibashvili also told Imedi TV that receiving 47% of the vote in the proportional part of the October 2 municipal elections ‘is unprecedented in the history of Georgia.’
We have won all elections since 2012. None of the governments, political parties have done this in Georgian history so far,” Garibashvili said.
He stated that the need for mayoral runoffs ‘in only 20 of 64’ constituencies is because of the ‘betrayal of ex-PM Giorgi Gakharia.’
Many thought that Gakharia was Ivanaishvili’s (founder of the ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili) project. We lost about seven to eight percent of votes in the elections for this,” Garibashvili said.
Gakharia resigned from premiership and left the ruling party back in February 2021 due to controversies with the GD leadership.
He founded the For Georgia political party in May 2021 and was taking part in the municipal elections.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced at a briefing in Truskavets, Ukraine today that he will work to bring Ukrainian citizen and former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, currently detained in Georgia, back to Ukraine using "various means".
“The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine will support ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, since he is a citizen of Ukraine”, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Saakashvili returned to Georgia in the past few days, though the exact date of his arrival in the country remains unclear; his United National Movement party claims that he had arrived in late September.
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.’
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.
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 United National Movement (UNM) opposition party and their supporters are now rallying at Rustavi No.12 prison to express support for the currently detained third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.
Georgian former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was detained in Tbilisi on October 1 ahead of municipal elections in the country says he is ‘deeply touched’ by the support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party head Irakli Kobakhidze has stated that the GD won the so-called referendum announced by ‘the radical opposition’ with 66 per cent of seats in city councils (Sakrebulo) nationwide. Kobakhidze said that the ruling party counts on increasing the figure to 68 per cent after the runoff.
The United Nations Movement (UNM) plans to hold ‘large rallies’ in all large cities in Georgia, during which demonstrators will demand the release of former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili from prison, UNM member Levan Bezhashvili said earlier today.