Saakashvili not to ask political asylum in Poland

By Interfax-Ukraine.

Published Feb. 13, 2018 at 11:40 am

Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili gives a press conference before the appeal hearing regarding the Kiev district court that ruled to release him from custody at a courthouse in Kiev on January 19, 2018. The court, which was to consider the appeal of the prosecutor's office against the decision of the Kiev district court to release Saakashvili from custody, postponed the hearing to January 26, 2018. (AFP)

Photo by AFP

Leader of the New Forces Movement party, ex-President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili has said that he will not ask for political asylum in Poland.

“I had a conversation with the leadership of the Interior Ministry of Poland. They called me when I arrived at the airport. The first question they asked me was whether I would ask for political asylum in Poland … I answered that I would not ask for any political salvation,” he said on the NewsOne TV channel on February 13.

According to Saakashvili, he was given security in Poland.

As reported, Saakashvili on February 12 was detained in Kyiv and returned to Poland on the readmission procedure.

The Polish Border Guard Service informed that Saakashvili was hosted on the territory of Poland on the basis of the application of the State Migration Service of Ukraine on readmission. The department noted that, taking into account the fact that Saakashvili is the husband of a citizen of a member state of the European Union, “the request of the Ukrainian side was positively received.”