Georgia is asking Ukraine to hand over Zurab Adeishvili, who has been working as the head of the Department of International Legal Cooperation of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office since September 2022. Georgia is concerned that he was part of the official delegation of Ukraine to the European Union and Germany.
This is stated on the government website.
Zurab Adeishvili was the Georgian Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2012, that is, during the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili.
In Georgia, Zurab Adeishvili is accused of the illegal confiscation of a winery, the seizure of the Iberia TV company, the kidnapping of Koba Davitashvili and brutal violence against him, the torture of prisoners and the bankruptcy of the Karta bank, among other crimes.
The Georgian authorities are also asking for the handover of former Odesa police chief Giorgi Lortkipanidze, who is accused, in particular, of helping Mikheil Saakashvili cross the border illegally. Giorgi Lortkipanidze held the post of Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Vano Merabishvili.
Cases against Saakashvili in Georgia
The ex-president of Georgia left the country in 2013. Four criminal proceedings were instituted against him in his homeland, two of which have resulted in convictions.
In June 2018, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Saakashvili in absentia to 6 years in prison for abuse of office. The court established that in 2005, Saakashvili, as president, ordered his subordinates to beat a member of parliament, businessman Valery Gelashvili.
In January 2018, the Tbilisi City Court also found Saakashvili guilty in the case of "malicious abuse of power" as the President of Georgia and sentenced him to 3 years in prison. The court found that the president in 2009 illegally pardoned four police officers who were serving a prison term for the murder of a bank employee.
- In July 2023, the Verkhovna Rada asked the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili to pardon Mikheil Saakashvili.