Suitcase, ticket, prison

Mikhail Saakashvili defiantly flew to Georgia on the eve of the elections to call supporters to the streets, and received his old term

On Friday evening, on October 1, the Georgian police arrested the ex-president of the country Mikhail Saakashvili in Tbilisi and immediately placed him in Rustavi's prison. Saakashvili returned to his homeland after eight years of exile right on the eve of the election, announcing his visit in advance. A few days ago, the statements of the former president seemed to be a bluff for many, because in Georgia he was sentenced in absentia in absentia to nine years in prison for official crimes, and this period may still increase - piles of volumes of unreasonable criminal cases against the former president are growing right now.

On September 27, 2021, Saakashvili published on Facebook a screenshot of Kyiv -Tbilisi tickets for the evening of October 2. On this day, municipal elections were appointed in Georgia, which the opposition considers key: after the 2020 parliamentary elections, protests began in the country against the reign of the centrists from the Georgian Dream, the crisis was overcome only through the agreement of the ruling party with the opposition through the mediation of the European Council. Under this agreement, the country should take early parliamentary elections if the Georgian Dream will gain less than 43%in the municipal elections on October 2. Saakashvili wanted to fly after the closure of the plots, probably waiting for protests in Georgia. However, on the tickets he published, it was clear that the tariff allows you to change the release date.

Apparently, the politician wanted to mislead Georgia authorities, since he really ended up in the country earlier. Already on October 1, the first videos appeared on his Facebook, in which he announces that he had returned to his homeland and was ready with the risk of people to the Square of Freedom in Tbilisi after the elections. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili had previously warned that as soon as Saakashvili crosses the border, he "would be arrested and sent to prison."

Then, at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, they assured that Saakashvili did not cross the state border, and the head of the ruling “Georgian Dream” Irakli Kobahidze called the “clown” politician and accused the bluff. The Imedi TV channel, founded by the ardent opponent of Saakashvili, the deceased Magnat Badri Patarkatsishvili, said that the former President of Georgia has been resting in the resort of Truskavets in Ukraine for the past four days and cannot be in Batumi.

A few hours later, Prime Minister Garibashvili went to the press and announced that Saakashvili was detained in the office of the “Unified National Movement” in Tbilisi and had already been sent under arrest. Journalists discovered the ex-president in the Rustavskaya prison near the capital and showed footage of how two guards lead a smiling policy into a penitentiary institution. All fake messages that Saakashvili did not cross the border and rest at the Ukrainian resort, the authorities explained by the tactical necessity. At the same time, according to the Saakashvili to the same party members, at the time of his arrest he was in Georgia for four days and freely traveled around the cities.

In 2018, the ex-president of Georgia was sentenced in absentia to nine years in prison-in the case of the beating of deputy Valery Gelashvili in 2005 and in the case of the murder of the police officers of the United Georgian Bank, Sandro Girgliani in 2006. Saakashvili then pardoned the officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who were accused of a crime. Saakashvili’s term can be increased - the courts continue to consider two cases against him - about the defeat of the Imady television channel and the embezzlement of state reasons. Another thing was aroused upon the arrival of a politician - about the illegal crossing of the border.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, known for liberal glances, refused to have mercy on Saakashvili. Already in prison, the politician announced a hunger strike. Since Saakashvili remains a citizen of Ukraine and no longer has a Georgian passport, President Vladimir Zelensky demanded explanations from Georgia about his arrest. Now Ukraine is trying to provide Saakashvili consular assistance.

After the detention on Facebook by the ex-president, video and audio recordings appeared on the eve of which he speaks of imminent arrest and calls for his supporters to go outside after the municipal elections.