Georgia arrests ex-President Saakashvili after return from 8-year exile

TBILISI, Oct 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Georgia has arrested former President Mikheil Saakashvili after his return to the country following eight years in exile, as the ex-leader sought to mobilise supporters ahead of national municipal elections seen as critical to the country’s political makeup.

Local media showed a video of smiling Saakashvili being escorted into the Rustavi penitentiary institution on Friday evening.

“I want to inform the public that the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, is arrested. He was transferred to a penitentiary institution,” Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told a news conference on Friday.

The announcement came about 18 hours after Saakashvili, who was convicted in absentia and has lived in Ukraine in recent years, posted on Facebook that he had returned to the country. Georgian officials earlier in the day had denied he was in Georgia.

In the posts, Saakashvili called Saturday’s elections “crucial” for Georgia and had called for a rally in Tbilisi on Sunday, promising to join it.

Saakashvili was convicted in absentia on abuse of office charges in 2018 and sentenced to six years in prison. He denies any wrongdoing and says the case is politically motivated.

President Salome Zourabichvili said she would not pardon Saakashvili, the TASS news agency reported on Friday.

Prior to his arrest, Saakashvili lived in Ukraine where he headed a government agency steering reforms.

The development is expected to prompt a diplomatic incident with Ukraine as Saakashvili holds only the Ukrainian citizenship that was granted in 2015 before he briefly served as the governor of Odessa. His Georgian citizenship was revoked in 2015 due to the country’s law against dual citizenship at that time.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the Georgian ambassador after his detention. — NNN-AGENCIES