Mikheil Saakashvili, the currently imprisoned former President of Georgia, on Wednesday addressed domestic opposition groups to “stand together” if the European Union rejected  Georgia’s candidacy later this year to ensure the current Georgian Dream Government quits and new elections are held. 

Addressing a trial hearing involving him via a video link, Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi in 2021 on his clandestine return, claimed the current authorities were “killing” him as he had created a “successful foreign [policy] precedent” and conducted democratic reforms while in office. 

He also rejected the allegations by the Georgian Dream that his United National Movement rule was “bloody and dark”. 

"We must participate in each process, our relationship with Europe must be in our hands. We should take our relationship with Russia, the invader, into our own hands, and it should not be up to those like Otar Partskhaladze, [a former Prosecutor General of Georgia recently sanctioned by the US for alleged cooperation with Russia]”, Saakashvili said. 

He also accused the current Government of promoting Russian interests in the country.