Former Georgian president sentenced to 9 years in prison
Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has been slapped with a nine-year prison term after being found guilty of embezzlement, the local media has reported.
Saakashvili was detained in October 2021 after secretly returning to Georgia during an election in the country. The authorities in Tbilisi accused him of abuse of power, embezzlement, and other offenses during his time in office between 2004 and 2013. During the incarceration, the former president lost a lot of weight and repeatedly complained about his poor health condition.
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The Georgian government is set to fold a media center promoting Western integration into the Foreign Ministry, according to its director. The Information Center on NATO and EU, based in Tbilisi, was launched in 2005 under then-President Mikhail Saakashvili to build public support for Georgia's membership in both blocs. An employee at the Center said in a social media post on Wednesday that he had received formal notification indicating the outlet would be closed by July 1. Director Tamara Tsuleiskiri later clarified that the NGO's functions would continue under the Foreign Ministry but that the current legal structure would be dissolved. Georgian officials confirmed the restructuring to the news agency Interpress. In 2008, NATO designated Georgia and Ukraine as potential future members, despite objections from several European leaders over concerns that the move would antagonize Moscow, which perceives the US-led military bloc as expansionist and hostile. Months later, Saakashvili launched a military operation against the then-breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, during which Russian peacekeepers stationed in the area were killed. Moscow responded swiftly, leading to a military defeat for Georgia, and shortly after recognized the region's independence. The failed gamble damaged Saakashvili's popularity and paved the way for the rise of the Georgian Dream party, which has taken a more skeptical view of the West. Last August, on the anniversary of the conflict, the party's ruling council issued a statement alleging that Saakashvili's actions 'were not a result of his mental instability, but a result of instructions from the outside and a well-planned betrayal.' Georgian Dream secured a sweeping victory in parliamentary elections last October. A coalition of pro-Western parties claimed the vote was rigged and launched street protests aimed at forcing the new government to step down. The EU and the US expressed support for the opposition's tactics — actions the Georgian government described as foreign interference. Georgian officials have accused the opposition of mimicking the strategy used in Ukraine in 2014 during the Western-backed Maidan coup. They have also alleged they are facing foreign pressure for not aligning with Kiev in its conflict with Moscow. Western nations, meanwhile, have accused the current government of 'undermining democracy' by passing legislation that mandates disclosure of foreign grants by domestic political organizations. Georgia has suspended accession talks with Brussels due to the tensions, but says it still seeks eventual membership in both the EU and NATO.
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Pro-Western ex-Georgian president gets new prison term
A court in Georgia has sentenced former President Mikhail Saakashvili to four and a half years in prison for illegally crossing the country's border in 2021. The ruling on Monday adds to the 57-year-old politician's existing sentences: Nine years for embezzlement and six years for abuse of power. 'Taking into account the combination of sentences,' the judge said, his total prison term is now set at 12 years and six months. Saakashvili came to power in Georgia on the back of protests in 2003 as a Washington-backed politician, and served as president until 2013. After his term in office ended, he fled the country amid embezzlement allegations. He moved to Ukraine where he became a citizen, thereby forfeiting his Georgian citizenship. While in Ukraine, he held various political roles following the 2014 Western-backed Maidan coup, but later left the country, accusing the authorities in Kiev of corruption. He was stripped of Ukrainian citizenship in 2017, becoming stateless. After being sentenced in absentia to six years in prison for abuse of power, Saakashvili secretly returned to Georgia in 2021, defying a warrant for his arrest, and was detained by the authorities. The court ruled on Monday that the time he has already served will be counted toward the sentence, which means he will remain in prison until 2034 unless he is pardoned or released on parole. The former president, who is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital, did not attend the announcement of the verdict, and reportedly refused to appear at the previous court session, requesting that the trial be postponed until his recovery. Saakashvili and his supporters have repeatedly denounced the charges against him as politically motivated. His health has reportedly deteriorated in custody, with his legal team and allies alleging mistreatment by the Georgian authorities. Commenting on the ruling in a video address, the former leader claimed he was being unlawfully punished for 'daring and managing to transform Georgia into a successful state.' He called the sentences against him an 'executioner-like, illegal, shameful series of decisions.' Saakashvili is also currently on trial for a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters in 2007. His presidency was marked by a brief military conflict with Russia, which followed his order for Georgian troops to invade the then-breakaway republic of South Ossetia in August 2008, in which Russian peacekeepers stationed in the area were targeted.
