Saakashvili sentenced to additional 4 years in jail

A court docket in Georgia has handed an additional jail sentence to the jailed former president, Mikheil Saakashvili.

Saakashvili was sentenced on Monday to four-and-a-half years behind bars for illegally crossing the border when returning to the nation from exile in 2021, his lawyer mentioned.

He’s already serving concurrent phrases for embezzlement and abuse of energy whereas in workplace, bringing his complete sentence to greater than 12 years.

Saakashvili has at all times denied wrongdoing and known as his newest sentence “unlawful” and “unjust”. Rights teams say his imprisonment is politically motivated.

Saakashvili opposes the governing Georgian Dream celebration, which favours nearer ties with Russia. As president, he sought to forge nearer relations with Western governments.

In a video posted on X on Monday from the hospital the place he’s being held, Saakashvili mentioned: “It doesn’t matter what, I’ll battle to the top.”

The previous president was sentenced final week to 9 years behind bars for embezzlement, working alongside the jail time period he had already been serving. In 2018, he was tried in absentia and sentenced in two separate trials.

Saakashvili was arrested in 2021 after making a shock return to Georgia forward of the nation’s native elections by smuggling himself into the nation on a ferry from Ukraine.

He known as for mass anti-government demonstrations, however was rapidly arrested by Georgian authorities.

The 57-year-old had led Georgia over two phrases between 2004 and 2013. Since leaving the nation, he had for probably the most half lived in Ukraine.

He was granted Ukrainian citizenship in 2015, renouncing his Georgian citizenship when he grew to become governor of Ukraine’s Odesa area.

His citizenship was revoked in 2017 earlier than being restored once more by President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019.

“This [sentence] is mainly sending a message… to President Zelensky, for them to scare him to indicate what occurs when you do not give up your nation… I didn’t give up Georgia,” Saakashvili mentioned in his video tackle whereas carrying a black shirt with the phrases “I am Ukrainian” emblazoned on it.

Zelensky, who appointed Saakashvili to supervise reforms in Ukraine, has demanded his switch to Kyiv.

He has beforehand accused Russia of “killing” Saakashvili “by the hands of the Georgian authorities”.

The European Union has repeatedly known as for Saakashvili’s rapid launch from jail, expressing concern over his deteriorating well being.

The Council of Europe rights watchdog has branded him a “political prisoner,” whereas Amnesty Worldwide has known as his therapy an “obvious political revenge”.