Former police official charged for helping Saakashvili cross border illegally
It is the second charge against former deputy interior minister Giorgi Lortkipanidze (R). Photo: video grab.
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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.
The Prosecutor's Office says that Lorkipanidze contacted one Elguja Tsomaia in Georgia whose truck was later used to transport Saakashvili from Ukraine to Georgia.
This is the second charge against Lortkipanidze.
He has already been charged with abuse of power for a crackdown on opposition demonstrators in central Tbilisi in 2011.
Saakashvili, who is a citizen of Ukraine and holds an official post in the country in the National Reforms Council, was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 after eight years in political exile.
He claims he returned to help the opposition remove the Georgian Dream government from power.
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.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that the ‘most credible’ account of why ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili returned to Georgia after eight years in political exile was his ‘wish to overthrow the Georgian Dream government.’ However, the ‘operation was as poorly planned as Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM) had run the country while in power.’
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.
The Georgian Interior Ministry says the detention of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is charged with several criminal offences, was planned in advance. Based on the information released by the ministry earlier today, Georgian law enforcers, the State Security Service and the General Prosecutor’s Office carried out a joint operation to detain ex-president Saakashvili.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Friday said his country’s Government had been “honest” to Ukraine both “before and after” of its invasion by Russia last year, and said the attitude had not been reflected by Kyiv, which he accused of “sheltering” wanted Georgian officials.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Monday said Giorgi Lortkipanidze, the country’s former Deputy Interior Minister under the United National Movement Government who currently serves as the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian military intelligence, had been “exposed for the second time” in “organising an unrest” in Georgia.