Ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s plans to achieve a victory in elections or prompt large-scale protests in his native country have so far failed to materialize.
Saakashvili, who is an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, arrived in Georgia on Oct. 1 and was arrested based on two verdicts against him including abuse of power and ordering the beating of an opposition lawmaker. He says the charges are fabricated and political.
Saakashvili said he had returned to Georgia in the run-up to the Oct. 2 local elections in an effort to boost support for the opposition. Earlier this year the country’s ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition reached an agreement according to which early parliamentary elections would be held if the ruling party fails to get at least 43 percent in the local elections.
However, the ruling party eventually defeated Saakashvili’s United National Movement, dealing a blow to his political plans.
The Georgian Dream received 46.6%, while the United National Movement was the runner-up with 30.7%, according to the official results. For Georgia, a party led by ex-Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, and Lela for Georgia, a party led by businessman Mamuka Khazaradze, received 7.8% and 2.7%, respectively. In the most important local election – that of the mayor of Tbilisi – a run-off between representatives of the Georgian Dream and the United National Movement will be held on Oct. 30.
The United National Movement is staunchly pro-Western, while the Georgian Dream and Gakharia have vacillated between Russia and the West.
About 3,000 protesters demonstrated against Saakashvili’s imprisonment outside of the prison in the city of Rustavi on Oct. 4, according to Deutsche Welle. No large-scale demonstrations have so far taken place.
Arrival
On Oct. 1, Saakashvili posted videos on Facebook saying that he had arrived in the Georgian city of Batumi and that he would soon be arrested.
Georgian authorities initially said he had not crossed the Georgian border officially and denied that he had returned. Later on, they announced his arrest and said they had arrested the person who helped to hide Saakashvili.
Georgian media reported that Saakashvili had allegedly crossed the Georgian border by ferry via the Black Sea while hiding in a trailer with vegetables. He allegedly went from the Ukrainian city of Odesa to the Georgian port of Poti.
After his arrest, Saakashvili started a hunger strike and said he considered himself a political prisoner.
“I knew that I would most likely be arrested based on fabricated, false verdicts, which were issued on (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin’s orders,” he wrote in a letter from jail addressed to his supporters. “No country in the world except Russia recognizes this sentence, but I still came because I believe in my country and in every single one of you.”
He went on to say that his “freedom and, more importantly, the freedom of Georgia depends entirely” on his supporters’ actions.
Read more: Ex-President Saakashvili arrested in Georgia (VIDEO)
Rumors have circulated that Georgian authorities might try to deport or extradite him back to Ukraine, fearing the political consequences of his imprisonment. However, Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Tea Tsulukiani said that Georgia was not going to hand Saakashvili over to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said Saakashvili could face new charges.
“He should behave, otherwise we’ll add other criminal articles,” he said.
Zelensky said on Oct. 3 that Ukrainian authorities would try to return Saakashvili back to Ukraine.
“As president of Ukraine, I’m constantly returning Ukrainian citizens through different methods that I have,” he said. “Mr. Saakashvili is a citizen of Ukraine, and all institutions, including the Foreign Ministry and our embassy in Georgia… will be involved in this.”
Accusations
During his presidency from 2004 to 2013, Saakashvili spearheaded law enforcement and economic reforms in Georgia that won him accolades in the West. To supporters, he was a dedicated and effective fighter against corruption. Critics accused Saakashvili of cracking down on the opposition and stifling the freedom of speech.
Saakashvili left Georgia in 2013 after the Georgian Dream, the main rival of his United National Movement, came to power. Since then, he has been charged and convicted in several criminal cases under the new government.
In 2018, a Georgian court sentenced him to six years in prison in absentia on charges of ordering the beating of opposition lawmaker Valery Gelashvili. The evidence against Saakashvili was based on testimony by two of his political foes.
That same year, a Tbilisi court also sentenced Saakashvili in absentia to three years in prison on abuse of power charges for pardoning four police officers convicted of murder. Saakashvili dismissed the accusations, arguing that his right to pardon them was not constitutionally limited.
