Georgia’s ex-president Saakashvili gets additional nine-year sentence for embezzlement

A Georgian court on Wednesday sentenced former President Mikheil Saakashvili to an additional nine years in prison for embezzling budget funds, adding to the six-year sentence he is already serving.

Georgia's jailed ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili appears on a screen via video link from a clinic during a court hearing in the case of the violent dispersal of anti-government mass protests in 2007, in Tbilisi, Georgia, 27 October 2023. Saakashvili secretly arrived in Georgia the day before the municipal elections in October 2021, after which he

EPA/IRAKLI GEDENIDZE

Prosecutors allege that between 2009 and 2013, Saakashvili spent about 9 million lari ($5.4 million at the time) in public money on personal expenses, according to Echo of the Caucasus, a local affiliate of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Saakashvili denies all wrongdoing, calling the trial politically motivated. He did not attend the hearing.

Supporters in the courtroom accused the judge of serving the interests of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The judge did not respond to the outbursts, local news agency Interpressnews reported.

Earliest release date 2030

Saakashvili, president from 2004 to 2013, has been in prison since October 2021 on charges including abuse of power—allegations he and his allies say are similarly politicized. He conducted several hunger strikes and spent most of his time behind bars in a prison hospital.

Under Wednesday’s verdict, his new term is calculated from the date of his 2021 detention, meaning the earliest possible release date would be October 1, 2030.

Additional charges against him are still pending.

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Source: PAP, RMF24