Mikheil Saakashvili Enters Georgia, Gets Arrested
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, October 4
On Friday, October 1, Mikheil Saakashvili posted a video on his official Facebook page, showing that he was in Batumi.
The third president of the country was saying that he was in Georgia and was ready to “fight side by side with the Georgian people” and support the opposition to win the elections.
The ruling party representatives spent the day convincing the population that Saakashvili had not left Ukraine and that he wasn't in Georgia.
Later on Friday, Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili held a press conference, announcing that Saakashvili was, in fact, in Georgia and had been arrested by the police.
Soon after, the footage was released showing the arrest of Georgia’s third president. The PM said that they were “deliberately trying to hide the information” about Saakashvili's location to make sure they could arrest him without any major issues.
The Prosecutor General's Office held a briefing on the arrest of the third President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili. Prosecutor Jarji Tsiklauri informed the public about the cases in which Mikheil Saakashvili is convicted and accused.
According to the prosecutor's office of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili has been convicted for the cases of Valeri Gelashvili and Sandro Girgvliani in three-instance court and has been sentenced to 6 years in prison.
The decisions made by the court in these cases are final and cannot be appealed.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has launched an investigation into the fact of illegal crossing of the border by Mikheil Saakashvili, a crime under Article 344 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. All necessary and procedural investigative actions are being carried out in the case in an active mode,” the prosecutor said.
Several people have visited and met Saakashvili after his arrest, including the members of the UNM, who have said that he is “standing strong.” Yesterday, the President of Ukraine said that Saakashvili is a citizen of Ukraine and that the Ukrainian side will do everything to protect him as they would do in the case of any Ukrainian citizen.
The Public Defender of Georgia, Nino Lomjaria, also met Saakashvili and said that he was protesting his arrest by refusing to eat.
“According to Mikheil Saakashvili, he was arrested today in Tbilisi. He said he was alone when detained by the police. He didn't resist, therefore, no force was used during the arrest nor afterward. He says he's on a hunger strike. Also, as a citizen of Ukraine, he requests a meeting with the Consul of Ukraine,” said Lomjaria after meeting Saakashvili on October 1.
Some people believed that the current president of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili would consider pardoning Saakashvili. However, Zourabichvili said that she would never pardon him.”
