Georgia: Ex-president Saakashvili transported to Rustavi prison

У вашего броузера проблема в совместимости с HTML5

Georgian police took the former president Mikhail Saakashvili to the Rustavi prison near Tbilisi on Friday.

Footage shows police cars arriving at the detention center. In addition, Georgian Ombudsman Nino Lomjaria arrived to meet ex-president. According to media, she stated he went on a hunger strike and demands a meeting with the Ukrainian consul.

Earlier, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili confirmed that former President Mikheil Saakashvili has been detained.

“I would like to inform our society that the third president of Georgia, wanted man Mikhail Saakashvili, has been detained,” he said during the briefing.

Saakashvili’s lawyer Bek Basilai also confirmed the arrest and called it politically motivated.

Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Darakhvelidze mentioned before that Saakashvili had neither left Ukraine nor crossed the Georgian border.

On Friday morning, the former head of state published a video message announcing his return to Georgia after spending eight years in Ukraine. The Interior Ministry refused to comment on the video.

Later, Saakashvili posted a video saying he was in Batumi. According to the local media, the day before the city’s port had received only two cargo ships from Romania and Ukraine due to a storm.

A local TV channel reported that Saakashvili had been in the Ukrainian city of Truskavets for four days. On the contrary to this, Saakashvili’s parties insisted that the politician was in Georgia and promised to provide the evidence on Saturday.

Saakashvili also urged supporters to rally with him on Sunday to protest after Saturday’s municipal elections.

The former president led the country from 2004 to 2013 and was later convicted in absentia on corruption charges, which he denied.

#Georgia #Saakashvili

Video ID: 20211001-048

Video on Demand: https://ruptly.tv/videos/20211001-048
Contact: [email protected]

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Ruptly
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Ruptly