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Saakashvili already convicted, new charges may be brought later — prosecution

А prosecutor’s office official noted that under Georgia’s laws, investigators have 48 hours to bring charges against a person detained on suspicion of committing a crime

TBILISI, October 3. /TASS/. Georgia’s ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili has already been convicted in Georgia on two criminal cases, so there is no need to be in a haste to bring new charges of illegal border crossing, a prosecutor’s office official told TASS on Sunday.

"Mikhail Saakashvili has already been convicted. There are criminal cases against him. So, he was arrested and placed in a penitentiary facility. As for the case of illegal border crossing, we are not limited by time frames. When we think it necessary, we will bring charges," she said.

She noted that under Georgia’s laws, investigators have 48 hours to bring charges against a person detained on suspicion of committing a crime. If no charges are brought, the person is to be released. But, in her words, it is not the case with Saakashvili, since he was detained as a convict but not a suspect.

Saakashvili was detained in Georgia on October 1 after he posted a video on his Facebook account, where he claimed he had arrived in the Georgian port city of Batumi. Later, the prosecutor’s office said that it had opened a criminal case against Saakashvili on charges of illegal state border crossing. The former president was placed in a prison in the city of Rustavi, near Tbilisi.

Saakashvili was Georgia’s president from January 2004 to November 2013 and left the country several days before the expiration of his office term. Immediately after it, four criminal cases were initiated against him and verdicts were pronounced on two of them. Thus, Saakashvili was sentenced in absentia to three years behind bars on charges of the murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani and to six years in jail on charged of the assault and battery of lawmaker Valery Gelashvili.

In the recent time, Saakashvili, who holds a Ukrainian passport, has been living in Ukraine. During the municipal election campaign in Georgia, he repeatedly said he was planning to go to Georgia, despite a pending arrest.

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Mikhail Saakashvili

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