The Tbilisi court refused to release Saakashvili

The Tbilisi City Court did not satisfy the request of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili ʼs lawyers to postpone the execution of the sentence or to release him.

This is reported by local mass media.

Judge Heorhiy Arevadze made the decision. Lawyers asked to postpone the sentence or release Saakashvili. The petition was considered for about two months.

Mikheil Saakashvili, who has Ukrainian citizenship, was detained in Georgia on October 1, 2021, when he returned to his homeland after an eight-year absence. He was charged with illegal border crossing, which, according to the investigation, he committed on September 28, when he secretly arrived at the port of Poti from Ukraine on a vessel carrying a truckload of dairy products. The article for illegal crossing of the border of Georgia provides up to five years of imprisonment.

In Georgia, the politician was convicted in absentia in the cases of the murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani (3 years of imprisonment) and the beating of deputy Valery Gelashvili (6 years). He is also involved in the case of the dispersal of an opposition rally on November 7, 2007, and the riot of the "Imedi" television company.

After returning to Georgia, Saakashvili announced a hunger strike on October 1, 2021, after being sent to prison. He stopped his hunger strike on November 20, after which he underwent a course of treatment in a military hospital. On January 31, 2022, Saakashvili was returned to the Rustavi prison. Doctors reported that the politicianʼs condition had significantly worsened in prison; he had lost almost 50 kg.

• On February 6, the Verkhovna Rada appealed to Georgia and other countries to transfer ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili for treatment abroad.