Ruling party head: former President Saakashvili has "confirmed he's ordinary agent”
The GD official added he considered it a “sad event” that “a person who admits to being an agent ruled the country for nine years". Photo: Georgian Dream Press Office
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Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili had "confirmed he is an ordinary agent" of a foreign state.
Kobakhidze was commenting on Saakashvili’s interview with the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, in which the former official said it was possible that the people who planned his return to Georgia in October 2021 were "agents of Russia”.
In his response, Kobakhidze noted Saakashvili had not even been consulted about the purpose of his trip to Georgia, adding “they [simply] put him in a container and sent him”, in reference to his clandestine seaborne arrival to the country.
The GD official added he considered it a “sad event” that “a person who admits to being an agent ruled the country for nine years".
Saakashvili confirmed that he is, to put it simply, an ordinary agent. He was not even consulted about the purpose he was being brought to another country - in this case - Georgia, for. They placed him in a container and sent him to Georgia”, Kobakhidze said.
“It is a sad thing that such a person, who practically admits to being an agent, ruled the country for nine years. We should not see such presidents in Georgia in the future. In general, such people should never be at the forefront of politics in Georgia”, he concluded.
Saakashvili, who was wanted in Georgia, was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021, after his return. He is serving a six-year term for two separate cases of abuse of power while in office, with three other cases involving his term pending.
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Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said comments at the European Parliament that mentioned the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili as a “political prisoner” demonstrated “corruption problems” at the body.
Levan Ioseliani, the newly appointed Public Defender of Georgia, on Sunday visited the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili and 13 other inmates currently undergoing treatment at the Vivamedi civilian clinic in Tbilisi.
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Rati Bregadze, the Georgian Justice Minister, on Wednesday said comments by United National Movement, the largest opposition group in the country’s Parliament, that positioned the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili as the party’s leader were a “classic example of informal rule” in the group.