TBILISI – Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, currently incarcerated, made another address to the opposition on Nov. 4 and accused the authorities of rigging results of the second round of local elections held on Oct. 30.
“The freedom stolen by the regime must be given back to the people. Now is not the time to talk about party affiliation or past activities. This is the time for unity and struggle, which will definitely be successful. The regime is extremely weak today,” Saakashvili said in an address read out by lawyer Giorgi Gelkhauri to reporters.
The former president told his supporters they should not expect that the authorities would pardon him. “No one should hope that the authorities will pardon me. […] Only the people of Georgia can free me,” Saakashvili said.
He said he did not want any official position and his only desire was “to freely move around Georgia and be a free man.”
Saakashvili, currently a citizen of Ukraine, secretly arrived in Georgia from Ukraine on Sept. 29. He was detained in Tbilisi on Oct. 1 and is currently being held in a Rustavi prison.
Georgia earlier declared Saakashvili wanted as a person convicted in absentia in several criminal cases and treated as a suspect in some others. Saakashvili has described his detention as unlawful and the charges brought against him as falsified.
