Fire has broken out in Rustavi Prison No.17, near Prison No.12 where Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili is serving his sentence. 

According to preliminary reports a fire broke out in the prison dinery. 

Reasons behind the incident, or whether inmates have been evacuated, have not been released so far. 

Saakashvili was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1 after eight years in political exile. 

He was convicted in Georgia in absentia in 2018 and was sentenced to six years in prison for abuse of authority. The ex-president has also been charged with four other offences related to

the illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal, and illegal border-crossing.