Latest news with #Interpress
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Georgian court places opposition leader in pre-trial detention for contempt of parliament
By Felix Light TBILISI (Reuters) -A Georgian court on Thursday placed Zurab Japaridze, one of the leaders of the country's largest opposition party, in pre-trial detention, as the government clamps down on dissent after major protests last year. It was not clear for how long he had been put into custody, according to Georgia's Interpress news agency. Japaridze, a prominent leader of the Coalition for Change, which came second in last year's parliamentary election, had refused to appear at a parliamentary inquiry into alleged crimes committed under jailed former President Mikheil Saakashvili, between 2004 and 2012. Japaridze had been held in contempt by parliament, and refused to pay bail in order to avoid jail. He and other opposition figures say the inquiry is an illegitimate propaganda exercise by the ruling Georgian Dream party. A baseball cap-wearing libertarian with a following among younger Georgians, Japaridze has been among the most prominent figures at street protests since last year. He has said he carried a gun until his license to do so was revoked by a court amid last year's protests. The ruling came amid a large police presence outside the court building, alongside a protest of opposition supporters. Georgian Dream's powerful founder, billionaire ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, has in recent months repeatedly pledged to ban opposition parties for what he says are their links to Saakashvili, who remains deeply divisive among Georgians. Previously one of the most pro-Western and democratic of the Soviet Union's successor states, critics of the Georgian government say the country has in recent years moved in an authoritarian and pro-Russian direction. In November, shortly after a parliamentary election the opposition said was falsified, the ruling party said it would halt European Union accession talks until 2028, abruptly freezing a long-standing and popular national goal that is written into Georgia's constitution. Georgian Dream says it still wants to eventually join the EU, but also wants balanced relations with Russia, which ruled Georgia for around 200 years until 1991. It says the October election, in which it gained a majority of seats in parliament, was free and fair. Georgia and Russia have had no formal diplomatic relations since 2008, when Tbilisi was defeated in the latest in a series of wars with two Russian-backed breakaway provinces.
Reuters
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Saakashvili, ex-president of Georgia, gets 4 1/2 years more in jail, Interpress reports
MOSCOW, March 17 (Reuters) - Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced on Monday to four-and-a-half more years in jail after being found guilty of illegally crossing the state border, Georgian news agency Interpress reported. According to the verdict, Saakashvili, who has been imprisoned since 2021 on charges that he says are politically-motivated, will be in prison until 2034 as the sentences will run concurrently. In office from 2004 to 2013, Saakashvili was convicted last week of embezzling 9 million Georgian lari ($3.3 million) via expenses claims for what prosecutors called "luxury" spending. Saakashvili was already serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power. He has spent much of that time in a prison hospital. He is also on trial for a crackdown on protesters in 2007. After leaving presidential office, Saakashvili moved to Ukraine, where he briefly served as governor of the Odesa region. He returned in 2021, despite having been convicted in absentia of abuse of power. He was jailed on arrival.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Saakashvili, ex-president of Georgia, gets 4 1/2 years more in jail, Interpress reports
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced on Monday to four-and-a-half more years in jail after being found guilty of illegally crossing the state border, Georgian news agency Interpress reported. According to the verdict, Saakashvili, who has been imprisoned since 2021 on charges that he says are politically-motivated, will be in prison until 2034 as the sentences will run concurrently. In office from 2004 to 2013, Saakashvili was convicted last week of embezzling 9 million Georgian lari ($3.3 million) via expenses claims for what prosecutors called "luxury" spending. Saakashvili was already serving a six-year sentence for abuse of power. He has spent much of that time in a prison hospital. He is also on trial for a crackdown on protesters in 2007. After leaving presidential office, Saakashvili moved to Ukraine, where he briefly served as governor of the Odesa region. He returned in 2021, despite having been convicted in absentia of abuse of power. He was jailed on arrival.
Al Arabiya
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Georgian court sentences former President Saakashvili to 9 more years in prison
A Georgian court sentenced on Wednesday the country's former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, to nine more years in prison after finding him guilty of embezzlement, the Interpress news agency reported. Saakashvili, who was president from 2004 to 2013, was jailed for six years for abuse of power after he returned to Georgia in 2021. He has spent much of that sentence in a prison hospital.
Arab News
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Georgian court sentences former president Saakashvili to 9 more years in prison
TBILISI: Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced on Wednesday to nine more years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement, the Interpress news agency reported. Saakashvili, who was president from 2004 to 2013, was jailed for six years for abuse of power after he returned to Georgia in 2021 after a spell abroad. He has spent much of that sentence in a prison hospital. Georgian television showed scenes of commotion in the courtroom after the verdict was announced, with Saakashvili supporters calling the judge a 'slave' of the present government. A deeply polarizing figure in Georgia today, Saakashvili rose to power on a tide of popular acclaim in the 2003 Rose Revolution. In power, he reorientated Georgia toward the West and embarked on an ambitious public sector reform program that delivered rapid improvements in the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million. However, the latter part of his tenure was marked by authoritarianism, police brutality, and a disastrous 2008 war with Russia. In 2012, his United National Movement party lost an election to a coalition headed by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire businessman who remains Georgia's de facto leader to this day. After leaving office, Saakashvili moved to Ukraine, where he briefly served as governor of the southern Odesa region. In 2021, he returned to Georgia, despite having been convicted in absentia of abuse of power. He was arrested and jailed on arrival.
