Opposition MP says ex. pres. Saakashvili should be given right to appeal verdict

Opposition MP Salome Samadashvili says former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili should be given the right to appeal the verdict against him as he didn’t attend court hearings.

The European Court says that a citizen should have the right to attend their own trial. That’s why we [opposition politicians] think the Georgian parliament should consider legislative changes that would establish that Saakashvili be allowed to appeal his verdict”, said Samadashvili.

Salome Samadashvili says Saakashvili should be released from custody before the court’s new decision.

Samadashvili also believes that the Georgian parliament should also discuss legislative changes regarding the prosecution of former high-ranking politicians.

Whether you [leading GD party members] like it or not, believe it or not, the government will change very soon and you will be in the hands of Murusidze’s [Judge Levan Murusidze, who currently serves as a Secretary of the High Council of Justice] court”, said Samadashvili at the parliament’s plenary session.

Former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s personal doctor Nikoloz Kipshidze said on October 18 that Saakashvili’s ‘health condition has significantly worsened in prison due to hunger strike’.

Saakashvili, who is serving time in Rustavi penitentiary establishment No. 12, has been on a hunger strike since his arrest on October 1.

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The former president of Georgia, who is currently a citizen of Ukraine, was charged with abuse of authority in absentia in 2018 and sentenced to six years in prison.

Furthermore, Saakashvili has been charged with four additional cases related to illegal takeover of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal, and illegally crossing the border.