Saakashvili demands Georgian gov’t allow him to speak in court to ‘tell the truth’
Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili returned to Georgia ahead of October 2 municipal elections. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Georgian former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 after eight years in political exile, has demanded the Georgian Dream (GD) government take him to court, where he will provide ‘all true information’ about him both for the international community and the Georgian people.
Saakashvili says in a Facebook post released earlier today that he will tell the truth ‘about everything’ in the court.
Instead of sharing my smiling videos from various resorts, take me to ‘your court.’ But it is likely you (the Georgian Dream government) are afraid of the truth most of all,” Saakashvili said.
Saakashvili has been on hunger strike since the day of his detention and has recently agreed to take medication to ‘maintain [his] strength.’
He is ready to be taken to hospital, but not to a prison hospital as was offered by government officials.
Saakashvili says that he returned to Georgia ‘to help the Georgian people end the governance of the pro-Russian Georgian Dream.’
He stated that he is a ‘personal prisoner’ of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the founder of the Georgian Dream Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The former president, who is a citizen of Ukraine and chairs the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council, wishes to be released from prison before municipal election run-offs on October 30.
Saakashvili was convicted in Georgia in absentia in 2018, and was sentenced to six years in prison for abuse of authority.
He has also been charged with four other cases related to illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal and illegally crossing the border.