Saakashvili ‘deeply touched’ by Ukrainian president’s support
Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili claims that he is a personal prisoner of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: biz.censor.net.
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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.
Zelensky announced at a briefing on October 3 that he will work to bring Ukrainian citizen and the third president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili back to Ukraine using "various means".
Saakashvili was appointed as a head of the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council last year, under Zelensky’s presidency.
I am deeply touched by your statement which is a response of the first-rate political leader to my illegal detention and imprisonment in Georgia based on the falsified charges that no one recognises in the world, except Russia,” Saakashvili told Zelensky in a recently released letter on Facebook.
In the letter Saakashvili says that Georgia ‘is love of my life, while Ukraine is my second homeland.’
All my life I will be proud of having the opportunity to modestly contribute to the current historical changes and reforms in Ukraine with your leadership. Since, in fact, I am a personal prisoner of Putin, I highly appreciate your fundamental stance to protect Ukraine, the entire region, and all prisoners of the empire,” Saakashvili wrote.
Saakashvili left Georgia back in 2013 and has not returned to Georgia until now.
He says he returned to help his United National Movement (UNM) opposition party to win the municipal elections and change the current Georgian Dream government via snap parliamentary elections.
Saakashvili was convicted in Georgia in 2018 in absentia for abuse of authority and was sentenced to six years in prison.
He has also been charged with several other crimes.
Three individuals have been charged with concealing crime regarding the recent return of Saakashvili, while an additional charge, for illegally crossing the border, has been filed against the former president.
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 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 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".
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.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that he is ‘personally involved’ in negotiations with the Georgian authorities regarding ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 and currently is undergoing treatment in Gori Military Hospital following a hunger strike, Ukrainian online media outlet Ukrainska Pravda reports.