Former President Saakashvili Sentenced to Nine Years in Jackets Case
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced to nine years in prison on March 12 by Judge Badri Kochlamazashvili in the so-called Jackets case, a trial centered on the misappropriation of state funds.
The court found Saakashvili guilty of misusing approximately 9 million GEL (roughly USD 3.2 million) from the state budget between 2009 and 2012. Prosecutors argued that these funds, allocated to the Special State Protection Service, were used for personal expenses, including luxury hotel stays, spa visits, cosmetic procedures, and clothing purchases for Saakashvili, his close allies, friends, and family members.
Saakashvili, who served as Georgia's president from 2004 to 2012, was initially charged with abuse of power in 2018 and sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. After returning from Ukraine in 2021, he was arrested, and his new sentence now extends his incarceration until 2030.
Alongside Saakashvili, former Special State Protection Service head Teimuraz Janashia was also sentenced in the case. Although the court found no direct evidence that Janashia personally spent the misappropriated funds, he was fined 300,000 GEL for allegedly "using his position against the public interest."
Following the verdict, Saakashvili denounced the ruling in a statement, calling it a politically motivated decision influenced by Georgian Dream party founder and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
"What a surprise, isn't the oligarch's verdict? The will of the occupier has been directly carried out. This is their response to the fact that I did not surrender Georgia. For the first time in centuries, we dared and formed a successful Georgian state," Saakashvili wrote.
He further criticized the trial, arguing that after failing to find substantial evidence against him, authorities sentenced him to what he described as "practically life imprisonment" over official presidential office expenses.
"This is how Ivanishvili's mafia clan punishes devotion to the country and love of homeland. They will not intimidate us! Strength is in unity!" he declared.
