TBILISI, March 17. /TASS/. Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's covert entry into his home country in 2021 was organized and executed by Ukraine's military intelligence, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili stated.
The Tbilisi City Court previously sentenced Saakashvili to four and a half years in prison for illegally crossing the border in 2021.
"Against the backdrop of Saakashvili's sentence, we should not forget that his covert arrival in Georgia was organized and carried out by the Ukrainian military intelligence. A few days before his secret entry into Georgia, Saakashvili was in Brussels and met with representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament. This occurred when he had already been sentenced to six years in prison for the murder of [banker Sandro] Girgvliani and the beating of [Georgian lawmaker Valery] Gelashvili," Papuashvili wrote on his Facebook (a social media site banned in Russia since it is owned by Meta corporation deemed extremist by the Russian authorities).
The Tbilisi City Court on March 12 found Saakashvili guilty in the case of embezzling more than $3.2 million in state funds and sentenced him to nine years in prison.
Four criminal investigations were launched into Saakashvili, who is now a Ukrainian citizen, after he left Georgia in 2013. In two cases, the politician was sentenced to three and six years in prison in absentia. On March 12, a court found Saakashvili guilty of misappropriating over $3.2 million in state funds, sentencing him to nine years behind bars. The cases concerning the dispersal of an opposition rally on November 7, 2007, and the destruction of the Georgian TV company Imedi’s office are still pending. In May 2022, the ex-Georgian president was taken to the Viamed private clinic in Tbilisi due to his deteriorating health, where he remains to this day.