Ex-Pres. Saakashvili “won’t escape justice” if he decides to withdraw from politics - ruling party MP
Ruling Georgian Dream party MP Mikheil Sarjveladze said on Monday the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili had “no influence” on domestic politics. Photo: Parliament of Georgia press office
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If the imprisoned former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili decides to withdraw from politics, the move will “in no way” lead to his release from prison, Mikheil Sarjveladze, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Monday in response to comments by Saakashvili’s lawyers about his alleged plans to leave the political scene to “look after his health”.
Sarjveladze, who chairs the Parliament's Human Rights Committee, suggested that “it is completely up to Saakashvili to decide on his political goals”, noting that “someone may try to trade with this topic [with the Government]”.
Saakashvili is making no impact on Georgian politics. He thought that his return to Georgia would have made changes. However, he was mistaken. Saakashvili’s presence or absence in Georgian politics has no genuine importance”, Sarjveladze said.
Vice - Parliament Speaker from the ruling party, Gia Volksi, said last week that Saakashvili was serving his term as he had “committed crimes and not because he is or is not in politics”.
Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1, 2021, ahead of Georgia's municipal elections. He went on hunger strike on the same day, which lasted several weeks. video grab.
Saakashvili’s lawyers, Valeri Gelbakhiani and Shalva Khachapuridze suggested last week that the former President, who was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021 after eight years in political exile, had plans to withdraw from politics due to his “poor health”.
The members of Saakashvili’s United National Movement opposition party slammed the lawyers for “making political statements”, with the party chair, Nika Melia, noting that it “could be the lawyers’ strategy” to help the defendant, while Saakashvili would remain an “integral part” of the UNM.
Saakashvili, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship and took a public post in Ukraine before being arrested in Tbilisi, claimed he returned to help the UNM take office again “via elections”.
However, the current Government said that Saakashvili and his “destructive opposition” had plans to overthrow the current state leadership.
The former President is now serving his six-year term for abuse of authority while in office, and is facing several other charges.
There is no precedent in Georgia for transferring a convicted prisoner abroad for medical treatment, Justice Minister Rati Bregadze said on Thursday in reference to calls from a part of the political opposition to enable the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili to receive medical service abroad.
Georgia’s imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili has been transferred from the No. 12 Prison in the city of Rustavi to the civilian clinic Vivamedi in capital Tbilisi, following an offer for the transfer from the Justice Ministry, made after demands on the matter from Saakashvili’s medical team and members of a part of political opposition.
Overall six criminal charges are filed against recently arrested Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili who has been convicted to six years of imprisonment in two cases while four other criminal cases are still being heard in Tbilisi City Court.
Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili has been detained today, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has announced. "Our law enforcement agencies had prior information about his (Saakashvili’s) movement from Ukraine to Georgia and the process was under the control” Garibashvili stated.
The distancing of imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili from Georgian politics is “unimaginable”, Khatia Dekanoidze, the Chair of the United National Movement party in the state legislature, said on Wednesday in comments on recent statements by Saakashvili’s lawyers about the former President's plans to withdraw from politics due to “poor health”.