Saakashvili in court: I’m the creator of the modern Georgian state, my imprisonment is a shame
Former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who called off his 50-day hunger strike on November 19, delivered a long speech in a court earlier today. Photo: netgazeti.
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Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who was brought to Tbilisi City Court earlier today to attend a trial hearing concerning him on a rally dispersal back in 2007, says that he ‘committed no crimes,’ and that ‘it is the shame’ of the country that the ‘creator of the modern Georgian state is imprisoned.’
He said that he made ‘many mistakes’ while in power. However, ‘mistakes and offences differ very much.’
Saakashvili said he was ‘illegally convicted’ in absentia back in 2018 for abuse of power in two separate cases under the Georgian Dream government to prevent his return to Georgia.
He also stated that Russia stood behind the 2007 opposition rally in Tbilisi and aimed to hamper Georgia’s NATO integration.
Saakashvili said that the country’s then-Interior Ministry made decisions concerning the rally and not him.
“Did I make mistakes? More than enough. Many mistakes that I bitterly regret. First and foremost, my mistake is this court. That we failed to create an independent judiciary harmed our many. Now it is harming me and I apologize to everyone who suffered,” Mikheil #Saakashvili said pic.twitter.com/JPDY0uDfF8
— Formula NEWS | English (@FormulaGe) November 29, 2021
He also stated that rallies are dispersed in many foreign states and presidents are not held accountable for this.
Saakashvili also said that the rallies dispersed under and the Georgian Dream government ‘had more victims’ than under his leadership.
He reiterated that he ‘could sit calmly in Ukraine,’ but decided to return after eight years in political exile ‘to save the country, as more Georgians left the country over the past nine years (under the Georgian Dream government) than in 70 years.’
Prosecutor Jarji Tsiklauri said that what Saakashvili spoke in the court ‘had nothing to do with his charges.’
We have not heard Saakashvili’s explanations on why the rally was brutally dispersed in 2007. Why did the police raid Imedi TV (amid the rallies) and why did his government illegally seize the property of Badri Patarkatsishvili (a tycoon which owned Imedi TV and was supporting the opposition’s rallies),” Tsiklauri said.
Ruling Georgian Dream party MP Beka Davituliani said that ‘it was an absurd speech of an old autocratic leader who shows no empathy to his victims and regrets nothing.’
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan has expressed the hope that former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s supporters ‘will act responsibly’ during his trial, urging that the protest should be peaceful.
Fifteen opposition activists, including opposition leader Gigi Ugulava, were arrested at a rally near Tbilisi City Court for disobeying police orders earlier today during a trial concerning former president Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili was allowed to attend the hearing in person, which concerns illegal dispersal of an opposition rally back in 2007, for the first time since his arrest in Tbilisi on October 1. Before the hearing took place, Saakashvili said that he distrusts the Georgian court, noting that he ‘would have used the opportunity’ to address the public.
Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili has already been taken to Tbilisi City Court to attend a trial hearing concerning the illegal dispersal of an opposition rally in central Tbilisi on November 7, 2007 in which Saakashvili is charged with the abuse of power, IPN says. Neither journalists, nor opposition activists are allowed into the court’s yard. The law enforcement are present at the scene to ensure safety.
Lawyers of former president Mikheil Saakashvili have called on the government to ensure Saakashvili’s presence at a trial hearing in a case concerning him on Monday despite the opposition’s plans to hold a rally at Tbilisi City Court.
Georgia's former president Mikheil Saakashvili says that ‘national reconciliation,’ referring to making peace between the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and his United National Movement, ‘is the best outcome for everyone.’
Georgian Dream party MP Guram Macharashvili says the government has no plans to send former president Mikheil Saakashvili ‘to a foreign resort’ to receive treatment weeks after his 50-day hunger strike.