10 October 2021, 11:23
Saakashvili complains about red tape with consideration of his cases in court
Mikheil (Mikhail) Saakashvili, a former president of Georgia, has appealed to the international community with a complaint about the protraction of consideration of his cases in court. He believes that he is deliberately kept in custody on the eve of the second round of elections.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Saakashvili was detained on October 1 after returning to his homeland. President Salome Zurabishvili ruled out his pardoning.
"There is an obvious attempt to prevent me from appearing in public before the scheduled second round of elections. I hope you will not leave this case unnoticed," Mr Saakashvili wrote on the Facebook, stressing that he "has been in jail for nine days without any court hearing."
On October 2, Georgia voted at elections of city mayors and deputies of local assemblies. Observers called the abuse of administrative resources and pressure on observers as the most typical violations.
Georgian authorities are not planning to release Saakashvili. Irakli Garibashvili, the Prime Minister, has stressed that the ex-president will serve his sentence in full. He also threatened Saakashvili with additional criminal articles depending on how he would behave, the "JAMnews" reports.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 9, 2021 at 10:16 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: CK correspondent