TV channel alleges Saakashvili entered Georgia hidden in truck on ferryboat

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. 

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The owner of the flat where Mikheil Saakashvili was detained in Tbilisi some days later, Elguja Tsomaia, was the driver of an agricultural produce truck where the ex-president was allegedly hiding, reports the TV channel. 

Saakashvili arrived in Poti in the evening and left for Batumi with his driver late at night where he recorded two videos,” Georgian public broadcaster's reporter Imeda Darsalia stated. 

Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani stated that Mikheil Saakashvili may have illegally crossed the Ukrainian border as the Ukrainian side did not confirm the official crossing of the border to the Georgian government. 

Saakashvili posted two video addresses on October 1 where he announced his return to the country. 

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Later that day he was arrested in Tbilisi and transferred to Rustavi prison No. 12. 

The police also detained and denied bail to Elguja Tsomaia who ‘handed over his apartment to Saakashvili for temporary residence and hiding,’ Georgian Prosecutor’s office reports. 

Father and son Zurab and Shalva Tsotsoria have also been arrested and denied bail as they transported Saakashvili to Georgia’s western region of Samegrelo after he illegally crossed into the country. 

• Prosecutor’s Office charges father, son who transported Saakashvili to Samegrelo after illegally crossing into Georgia

The former president claims that currently, he is on a hunger strike considering himself a political prisoner. 

Mikheil Saakashvili who served as the country’s third president from 2004 to 2013 faces several criminal charges and is convicted to six years of imprisonment in two cases: the case of physical attack on opposition MP Valeri Gelashvili who was severely injured and assaulted by armed and masked men in Tbilisi in 2005 and the murder case of Sandro Girgvliani in 2006. 

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Saakashvili was found guilty of the abuse of power in both cases. 

Additionally, ex-president Saakashvili will be charged with illegal border crossing as well.