The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has summoned Mikheil Saakashvili, leader of the Movement of New Forces party and former Georgian president, for questioning on December 22, a source within law enforcement agencies told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Saakashvili is being summoned for questioning at the SBU’s Kyiv department on December 22,” the source said.
As Interfax-Ukraine reported earlier, Saakashvili on December 18 appeared at the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), where he had been summoned for questioning, but declared there that his criminal case should be passed to the Security Service.
“When this case is passed to the Ukrainian Security Service as is required by the law, I will provide testimony,” Saakashvili told journalists after visiting the PGO building on December 18 morning.
Saakashvili’s defense lawyer Ruslan Chornolutsky also said that according to the law, the case is within the Ukrainian Security Service’s jurisdiction.
A PGO spokesperson said Saakashvili had disrupted the investigative procedure, since even though he had come to the Prosecutor General’s Office, he failed to appear before the investigator who had summoned him for questioning.
The case on Saakashvili was opened pursuant to Part 1 of Article 15, Part 3 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 256 of the Criminal Code (assistance to participants of criminal organizations and concealment of their criminal activity).
