Degnan welcomes Saakashvili’s presence in court, calls on his supporters to act peacefully
US Ambassador Kelly Degnan has praised Georgian law enforcement officers for ensuring safety during a trial hearing of former president Mikheil Saakashvili. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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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.
The police have done a good job of organizing it so that Saakashvili can get there safely, the media can cover the event in person and the public can observe the event. So, I do think that there is an effort being made to try and ensure that his right to a fair trial is being observed,” Degnan said.
She encouraged Saakashvili’s supporters, who held a rally at the court, to act in accordance with the law, noting that “it is very important for a fair trial to occur, and for there to be proper decorum in the courtroom itself.’
Today’s trial concerned the embezzlement of 8,837,461 GEL in state funds for personal purposes while Saakashvili was in office.
The next trial in the case was scheduled on December 27.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan says that if the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party rejects an electoral bill which would establish a two percent election threshold for the next two parliamentary elections, the move may ‘risk [establishing] the tyranny of the majority.’
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.
Police have arrested three individuals for violence against police and resisting arrest during an opposition rally near Tbilisi City Court on November 29.
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.