UNM’s Tsitlidze: let Ivanishvili release Saakashvili for one week and then we’ll see

United National Movement leader Anna Tsitlidze has called for former President Mikheil Saakashvili to be released from prison, arguing that his detention is a political matter.

“Let Bidzina Ivanishvili release Saakashvili for one week and then we’ll see,” Tsitlidze said, adding that she considers Saakashvili a political prisoner. Her remarks came during the UNM rally marking five years since Saakashvili’s arrest.

Tsitlidze said Saakashvili’s imprisonment should not be viewed as an issue concerning only one political party, describing it as a “national shame.”

She also credited Saakashvili with raising the European Union flag in Georgia and opposing Russian occupation, and said accepting his imprisonment amounted to accepting Russian occupation.

“Saakashvili is a political prisoner and he is the person who can defeat Bidzina Ivanishvili,” Tsitlidze said.

Saakashvili has been serving prison sentences following convictions in several criminal cases. His supporters and some international political and civil-society organisations have described his detention as politically motivated, while the Georgian authorities have rejected that characterisation.