A Georgian court increased on Wednesday, March 12, the sentence of the ex-president of this country of the Caucasus, Mikheïl Saakachvili, already sentenced and imprisoned, on Wednesday, March 12, for nine years in prison, for embezzlement, his lawyer (AFP) announced its lawyer, Dito Sadzaglichvili.
In 2018, Mr. Saakachvili, 57, had been sentenced in absentia to six years in prison for abuse of power, accusations which, according to human rights NGOs, were political. He has served this sentence since his arrest in Georgia, in 2021, when he returned from exile in Ukraine. Wednesday, the municipal court of Tbilissi “Has condemned Mr. Saakachvili to nine years in prison”adding three years of detention to the initial sentence, according to his lawyer.
The Georgian justice has recognized the ex-president guilty of having diverted 9 million Lari (approximately 3 million euros) of budgetary funds between 2004 and 2013 when he was in power in Georgia, said the council of the former president, denouncing charges “Climb from scratch”. Incarcerated in 2021, Mikheïl Saakachvili has been hospitalized in Tbilisi since 2022 and has not attended the hearing on Wednesday.
The European Parliament calls for its immediate release
“He suffers from several chronic diseases, and his state of health deteriorates periodically”according to Zourab Tchkaïdzé, director of the Vivamed hospital where Mr. Saakachvili is treated. The European Parliament called for his immediate release, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked that Mikheïl Saakachvili, who has had a Ukrainian passport since 2019, be transferred to kyiv.
Mr. Saakachvili, who studied in the United States and France and speaks fluent in the United States, was brought to power after having led in 2003 in Georgia the “Rose Revolution”, which had peacefully ousted the old elites inherited from the Soviet period.
During his presidency, Mr. Saakachvili led an effective crusade against corruption, reformed a police notoriously affected by this scourge, imprisoned criminal leaders and rebuilt ruined infrastructure. But many criticisms have denounced under his presidency of attacks on freedoms and an authoritarian penchant, citing in particular the violent repression of antigan demonstrations. He is today the main figure in the opposition.