UNM supporters form a human chain on 18th anniversary of Rose Revolution
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Opposition United National Movement (UNM) members and supporters have formed a human chain in central Tbilisi earlier today to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Rose Revolution, a change of power in Georgia following mass protests led by the currently imprisoned UNM founder Mikheil Saakashvili in 2003.
UNM head Nika Melia asserted that Saakashvili, who became the third president of Georgia after the Rose Revolution, will not stay in prison for a long time.
Saakashvili rose to power after the revolution in 2003. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Melia added that the UNM will present a 'specific plan' to the public by the end of the week.
By the end of the week, we will lay out a very specific plan with our friends and introduce the public to our strategy which will lead the victory, Melia said.
UNM head will present an action plan to his supporters by the end of the week. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Saakashvili, who is currently a citizen of Ukraine, fled Georgia in 2013, a year after the UNM lost the parliamentary elections to Georgian Dream. In 2018, Georgian court convicted him in absentia on two counts of abuse of power and sentenced him to six years in prison.
The ex-president was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1, after his clandestine return to Georgia.
Saakashvili is currently facing five additional charges, including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal, and illegal border crossing.
The ex-president denies all charges and considers himself a 'political prisoner.' He was transferred to Gori military hospital last week, on his 50th day of hunger strike.
The United National Movement (UNM) opposition party and its supporters will make a human chain in central Tbilisi tomorrow to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Rose Revolution, a peaceful coup by third president Mikheil Saakashvili and its UNM party back in 2003.
US senators Jim Risch, Jeanne Shaheen, Ron Johnson, and Ben Cardin have said that the former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili who is currently serving a prison sentence, 'deserves to be treated fairly and with dignity, in accordance with international standards and Georgian law.'
The former president Mikheil Saakashvili has accepted the Georgian government’s offer to be transferred to Gori military hospital and is ready to stop the 50-day hunger strike after the admittance to the clinic, ex-president’s lawyer Nika Gvaramia announces.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili says that the third president Mikheil Saakashvili is serving his term in a Georgian prison ‘based on the rule of law.’ However, she noted that the former president is not an ordinary prisoner and that his imprisonment and hunger strike is ‘under close observation’ by the international community.