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Saakashvili's defense files appeal over arrest of his ally

The court set Saakashvili free for the investigation period

© AP Photo/Sergei Grits

KIEV, December 12. /TASS/. Defense of the former Georgian president and governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili has appealed the arrest of his ally, Severion Dangadze, lawyer Ruslan Chernolutsky defending Saakashvili told reporters on Monday.

"We filed an appeal today," he said. "After Saakashvili’s release the appeals court will pass a similar decision on Dangadze."

Read also

Ukrainian Prosecutor General to fight Saakashvili’s release

Earlier on Monday, Pechersky district court in Kiev 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 court set Saakashvili free for the period of investigation. The judges left unanswered a request from the prosecution to place Saakashvili under house arrest.

Severion Dangadze was detained on December 4. During a search in his apartment in Kiev, the law enforcers found a Ukrainian passport issued in Mikhail Saakashvili’s name.

Read also

Ex-Georgian leader Saakashvili vows to continue hunger strike ‘to the bitter end’

Prosecutor General described Dangadze as a link between Saakashvili and businessman Sergei Kurchenko, whom the authorities accused of sponsoring protests in Kiev

On December 6, Dangadze was arrested for two months without the right to bailout.

The authorities detained Saakashvili himself December 8. They accuse him of rendering assistance to a criminal grouping.

Saakashvili does not recognize any guilt on his part and dismisses all the charges as politically motivated ones. Overnight to last Saturday, he went on a hunger strike while at a pretrial detention center.

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Mikhail Saakashvili

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