Georgia's ex‑president Saakashvili faces extended prison term
On Monday, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for illegally crossing the border. This is another verdict in recent times in his case.
- Mikheil Saakashvili, former President of Georgia, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for illegally crossing the border. The verdict was issued on Monday.
- Saakashvili will serve twelve and a half years in prison, including previous sentences. He will not be eligible for release until April 2034.
- Last week, Saakashvili received a nine-year prison sentence for embezzling budgetary funds.
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for illegally crossing the border. This is not his first sentence. Saakashvili, who served as Georgia's president from 2004 to 2013, has been serving a prison sentence for abuse of power since the autumn of 2021. Considering previous sentences, Saakashvili will spend twelve and a half years in prison, the judge announced.
"The earliest he can be released is in April 2034," - wrote Echo Kawkaza – the local branch of Radio Liberty.
Another sentence for the former Georgian president in recent days
Last week, Saakashvili was sentenced to nine years for embezzling budgetary funds. The former president and his supporters claim that the cases against him are politically motivated.
Saakashvili secretly arrived in Georgia from Ukraine aboard a ship in the autumn of 2021. During this time, he had fugitive status and was sentenced in absentia. Behind bars, he held several hunger strikes. He spent most of his sentence in a prison hospital.
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