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Kiev district court releases former Georgian president from custody

The judges left unanswered a demand from the prosecution to place Mikhail Saakashvili under house arrest

KIEV, December 12. /TASS/. Pechersky district court in Kiev on Monday ruled to lift the pretrial measure for the former Georgian President and governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, and released him from custody. The resolution was read out by Justice Larisa Tsokol.

The court set Saakashvili free for the period of investigation.

The judges left unanswered a demand from the prosecution to place Saakashvili under house arrest. The resolution can be appealed within five days.

Saakashvili was detained on December 8 on charges of assistance to members of a criminal grouping. He does not recognize any guilt on his part and calls the accusations political motivated. In the early hours of Saturday, he went on an indefinite hunger strike while in a pretrial detention center.

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Ukraine crisis Mikhail Saakashvili

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