FM Zalkaliani: Saakashvili may have illegally crossed Ukrainian border
“An embassy employee provided all the information including the materials of the prosecution, the charges, the sentence for which he is serving, as well as the circumstances in which he was arrested,” Zalkaliani stated. Photo: David Zalkaliani/Facebook.
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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.’
Understandably, the Ukrainian government has the right and duty to care for its citizens,” said Zalkaliani.
He also touched upon the issue of extradition and stated that a person is extradited to a country only ‘if he has committed a criminal offence in that country.’
Zalkaliani said that Georgia has ‘very good and fruitful contacts’ with Ukraine, noting that the representative of the Georgian Embassy has provided the Ukrainian side with information on charges against Saakashvili.
An embassy employee provided all the information including the materials of the prosecution, the charges, the sentence for which he is serving, as well as the circumstances in which he was arrested,” Zalkaliani stated.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced yesterday that he will work to bring Ukrainian citizen and former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili back to Ukraine.
Saakashvili was detained on October 1 and transferred to the penitentiary institution in Rustavi.
Mikheil Saakashvili who served as the country’s third president from 2004 to 2013 is charged with several criminal offences and is convicted to six years of imprisonment in two cases.
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.
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.
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.
Opposition United National Movement (UNM) MP Levan Khabeishvili has announced a ‘large-scale’ demonstration to release recently detained Georgian former president Mikheil Saakashvili and called on the public to join. "We must start preparing for a large rally, the whole of Georgia must stand on its feet...Let's start organising from here and interacting with each other,” says Khabeishvili in his Facebook post.
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 former President Mikheil Saakashvili allegedly entered Georgia’s Black Sea port city of Poti via Ukrainian private company UkrFerry’s boat Vilnius ‘hidden in a truck,’ the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s (GPB) weekly analytical program New Week reports. The GPB says Saakashvili set foot in Georgia on September 29 at nine p.m. via boat which departed from the trading port of Chernomorsk in the Odessa region.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Kakha Kuchava has stated that ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili cannot be a cause of discord between Georgia and Ukraine and called the two countries ‘brotherly nations and strategic partners.’ "We [Georgia and Ukraine] have many plans in terms of cooperation and [we have] a common enemy,” Kuchava said.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Kakha Kuchava says Georgia and Ukraine are destined for ‘a resolute partnership’ due to their similar history, challenges and interests. Kakha Kuchava who is on an official visit to Ukraine has met Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Kyiv.