Former President Saakashvili detained in Georgia – SME.sk

TBILISI. Former President Mikhail Saakashvili was detained in Georgia on Friday. This was announced at a press conference by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.

Saakashvili announced just a few hours ago on social networks that he is in Georgia.

TASS and AFP reported.

He roared the Georgians

“I would like to announce that the third Georgian president has been detained and sent to prison,” Garibashvili said. He also added that the security forces had information about Saakashvili’s movements while he was in Ukraine, and they controlled the whole situation.

Saakashvili announced on Facebook on Friday that he has returned to his home country after eight years and is located in the city of Batum. However, the Georgian Interior Ministry at the time claimed that the former president had not crossed the Georgian border.

Saakashvili later announced on social media that he planned to be in Tbilisi on October 2 and 3, and urged people to come to Freedom Square in the city center, where they would “count the votes together.”

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I will not give up

The former Georgian president also said that if the “usurper government” managed to detain him before the announced marches, “it should further strengthen” the strength of opposition supporters. He assured that he would not give up, and expressed the hope that even his supporters would not give up.

Saakashvili was Georgia’s president from 2004 to 2013, when he left the country just days before the end of his term. He was subsequently sentenced in absentia to three years in prison for abuse of power. In addition, the former president faces other charges in Georgia.

Saakashvili has long announced his intention to return to his homeland by the October local government elections. These elections are seen as a key test of the increasingly unpopular governing party, the Georgian Dream. Representatives of the Georgian leadership have repeatedly stated that they will detain the ex-president as soon as he crosses the border.