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Protesters at Rustavi prison where Saakashvili serves sentence start putting up tents

The protesters plan to spend the night in tents near the prison

TBILISI, November 6. /TASS/. The participants of the rally supporting former president of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili that is taking place near the prison facility of the city of Rustavi, where the politician serves sentence, have started putting up tents. The demonstration is broadcast live by the Georgian Mtavari Arkhi TV channel.

The protesters plan to spend the night in tents near the prison, claiming they will not go home until Saakashvili is taken to a civil hospital, instead of a prison hospital as suggested by the Justice Ministry. Around several hundred people are taking part in the action.

Mikhail Saakashvili was apprehended in Georgia, where he came back prior to the first round of local elections, on October 1. The former president is serving a prison sentence in the city of Rustavi, where he went on hunger strike, as he considers himself a political prisoner. Georgia’s Justice Ministry has repeatedly suggested moving the politician to a prison hospital, but Saakashvili and his lawyers insist that he should go to a private hospital. Various actions and rallies supporting ex-leader of the country have been held in Rustavi for a month.

Saakashvili served as Georgia's president between January 2004 and November 2013. He left the country several days before his presidential term expired in 2013. Right after that, four criminal cases were opened against him and verdicts have now been announced in two of them. In January 2018, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Saakashvili in absentia to three years behind bars in the 2006 murder case of United Bank of Georgia staff member Sandro Girgvliani. In June 2018, a court handed the ex-president a six-year prison sentence in the 2005 beating case of parliament member Valery Gelashvili.

On October 20, Saakashvili was charged with illegal border crossing, which may entail imprisonment of up to five years. The politician has been a resident of Ukraine recently, holding this country’s citizenship.

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Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili

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