TBILISI, October 1. / TASS /. Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said on Friday that he arrived at his homeland eight years after his departure.

"Good morning, Georgia. I am already in Georgia after eight years," the politician stated on his Facebook page.

No official comments from the Georgian authorities, as well as Saakashvili's United National Movement party, have been made so far.

Saakashvili said on Monday that he had bought a plane ticket to Tbilisi for the evening of October 2 in order to attend the local elections. Later, photos of his booked ticket were published on the Internet.

Mikheil Saakashvili served as President of Georgia from January 2004 to November 2013. In 2013, he left the country a few days before his presidential term has expired. Right after that, four criminal cases were launched against him, two of which have already been sentenced. In January 2018, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Saakashvili in absentia to three years behind bars for the 2006 murder of Sandro Girgvliani, an employee of the Georgian United Bank. In June 2018, the court sentenced him to six years in prison for the 2005 assault of deputy Valery Gelashvili.