Saakashvili attending second trial on embezzlement of state funds
Former president Mikheil Saakashvili says that he is a ‘political prisoner.’ Photo: 1TV.
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Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili is attending a trial hearing today in Tbilisi City Court which concerns the embezzlement of 8,837,461 GEL in state funds for personal purposes while in office.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that according to the agreement between Saakashvili and former head of Special State Protection Service of Georgia, Teimuraz Janashia, between 2009 and 2013, the state funds were used for expensive clothes for Saakashvili, massage and other aesthetic procedures, as well as for other individuals connected with the former president.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that the money was skimmed from the budget of the Special Protection Service of Georgia in a secretive manner.
Nika Gvaramia, lawyer of @SaakashviliM, while wearing his infamous jacket, spoke about how the entire case is a historic disgrace
— Mtavari TV (@MtavariChannel) December 1, 2021
More: https://t.co/CRplpXhJyT pic.twitter.com/LMvRrubK72
Saakashvili, who was allowed to attend the second trial hearing since his arrest in Tbilisi on October 1, says that the case is ‘particularly shameful,’ noting that all seven charges against him are ‘politically motivated.’
Saakashvili’s lawyers demanded the removal of two prosecutors, Giorgi Mujiri and Archil Tkeshelashvili, from the case earlier today ‘for making politically biased statements.’
However, judge Badri Kochlamazashvili did not fulfil the demand.
Saakashvili says that he is attending trials in his own cases to ‘address the public,’ and not because he is waiting for fair judgements.
He claims that the Georgian court ‘is fulfilling the government’s demands.’
Opposition activists are now rallying at the court. Opposition leaders claim that rallies will take place during all trial hearings concerning Saakashvili.Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Ruling party MP Gia Volski says that embezzlement of state funds is a crime and everyone must be equal before the law.
A former French president was convicted for spending 300,000 euros from the state budget on his wife,” Volski said.
Saakashvili called off his 50-day hunger strike on November 19 after he accepted his transfer to Gori military hospital for treatment.
Following this, the Georgian Justice Ministry said the former president could be brought to the court to attend his own trials.
Saakashvili, who is now a citizen of Ukraine and holds an official post there, says that he returned after eight years in political exile ‘to remove the Georgian Dream government from power.’
He was convicted in absentia in Georgia in 2018 for abuse of power and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Saakashvili has also been charged with five other offences, including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, abuse of power, illegally crossing the border and illegal rally dispersal.
Police have arrested three individuals for violence against police and resisting arrest during an opposition rally near Tbilisi City Court on November 29.
Head of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party Nika Melia says protest rallies should be on-going until the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party is overthrown and former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili released.
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.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan has welcomed that former president Mikheil Saakashvili was taken to the court for the second time earlier today to attend a trial hearing in a case concerning him.
Georgia’s imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili performed the national anthem of Ukraine, in a show of support of the country, during the latest hearing in the case against him on charges of embezzlement of state funds on Wednesday.