TBILISI, October 4. /TASS/. A rally of supporters of former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, demanding his release, has ended in Georgia, Mtavari Arxi TV channel reported on Monday.
Georgia’s national anthem was played at the rally in front of the prison in the city of Rustavi where Saakashvili is being held, after which the organizers thanked the supporters, pledging that such rallies would continue.
Several hundred members of the United National Movement opposition party and their allies were rallying at the prison from 15:00 local time (14:00 Moscow time). They appealed to the Georgian authorities and the global community, demanding his release. There was an increased police presence at the prison, and approaches to it were cordoned off by barriers. The rally was peaceful.
On Friday, Saakashvili wrote on Facebook that he had returned to his homeland eight years after his departure. Later, he published a video claiming he was in Georgia’s Batumi. After a couple of hours, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced that Saakashvili had been detained and taken to a detention facility.
Later, the Prosecutor’s Office said that a criminal case was opened against Saakashvili, charged with an illegal border crossing. Also, the owner of the apartment in Tbilisi where the former president was hiding, was arrested.
Saakashvili served as President of Georgia from January 2004 to November 2013. In 2013, he left the country a few days before the expiration of his presidential term. Following that, four criminal cases were opened against him with verdicts returned on two of them. 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 lawmaker Valery Gelashvili.
Saakashvili has been living in Ukraine of late, he has Ukrainian citizenship.