08:25, 29 June 2018

Georgia: Saakashvili sentenced to six years in jail

Mikhail Saakashvili. Photo: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

The Tbilisi City Court has found Mikhail Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia, guilty of beating up the MP Valery Gelashvili in 2005, and sentenced him in absentia to six years in prison.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 5, the court found Saakashvili guilty of exceeding his authority when pardoning convicts for killing the businessman Sandro Girgvliani and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment. Saakashvili's defence appealed against the verdict.

According to investigators, Saakashvili instructed Vano Merabishvili, the then Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, to organize Gelashvili's beating after his interview to the "Resonansi" newspaper.

The Saakashvili's order was executed; and on July 14, 2005, special agents beat Gelashvili up. He suffered a skull trauma and numerous fractures.

Saakashvili is also deprived of the right to hold office for 2 years and 3 months, the "InterPressNews" reports.

In Georgia, Saakashvili was also charged with embezzlement of budgetary funds, dispersal of the oppositional action in November 2007, pogrom at the "Imedi" TV Company, and seizure of property from billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 28, 2018 at 20:09 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.