Individuals who helped ex-pres. Saakashvili illegally enter Georgia denied bail
Tsomaia’s lawyer asked for 10,000 GEL bail, however, Judge Davit Kurtanidze denied the request. Photo: IPN.
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Four individuals who helped former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili illegally enter the country have been denied bail earlier today by Tbilisi City Court.
Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 after returning from eight years in political exile.
Police arrested Elguja Tsomaia who ‘gave his apartment to Saakashvili for temporary residence and hiding’ on October 3, while father and son Zurab and Shalva Tsotsoria were detained on October 5 for transporting Saakashvili to Georgia’s western region of Samegrelo after he illegally crossed into the country.
- Prosecutor’s Office charges owner of flat where ex-president Saakashvili was hiding before detention
Giorgi Narimanidze, who allegedly was the driver of the truck in which Saakashvili was hidden while travelling from Poti to Tbilisi, was also arrested for concealment of a crime on October 20.
Tsomaia’s lawyer asked for 10,000 GEL bail, however, Judge Davit Kurtanidze denied the request.
The next pre-trial hearing is scheduled for December 28.
Saakashvili, who served as the country’s third president from 2004 to 2013, was sentenced to six years of imprisonment in absentia in 2018 for the abuse of power.
Additionally, the ex-president is charged with several other offences including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal and illegal border crossing.
Police have arrested one more individual in connection with the illegal crossing of the national border by former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.
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.
Tbilisi City Court has denied bail to Zurab and Shalva Tsotsoria, who are currently detained for transporting ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili to Georgia’s western region of Samegrelo after he illegally crossed into Georgia several days ago.
Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office has charged the owner of a flat where ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili was hiding before being recently detained. The Prosecutor's Office says that the owner of the flat, identified only as E.Ts., knew that Saakashvili was wanted by Georgian law enforcement officers for serious crimes. Nevertheless, E.Ts. handed over his apartment to Saakashvili for temporary residence and hiding.
Former deputy interior minister under the United National Movement government Giorgi Lortkipanidze has been charged for helping former president Mikheil Saakashvili cross the border from Ukraine to Georgia illegally at the end of September of this year. The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office says that Lortkipanidze was aware of Saakashvili’s plans to return to Georgia ahead of October 2 municipal elections, and he offered suggestions about how this could be done.
Giorgi Narimanidze, Elguja Tsomaia, Zurab and Shalva Tsotsoria, the four individuals who helped former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili illegally enter the country last September, were released on 5,000 GEL bail by Tbilisi City Court on Thursday.
Georgia’s Border Police on Tuesday said it had arrested a group of five individuals for an attempt of illegal crossing of the state border in the country’s south-west.