Georgia’s ex-President Saakashvili sentenced to 12 years in prison

The third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, on Monday was found guilty of illegally crossing the country’s border in 2021 and sentenced to an additional four years and six months in prison.

However, due to previous convictions, the total length of Saakashvili’s prison term has now reached 12 years and 6 months.

The former Georgian leader has already been sentenced in three separate cases. Judge Badri Kochlamazashvili last week sentenced Saakashvili to nine years in prison in the so-called Jackets case, which involves the alleged misappropriation of state funds.

Saakashvili, who served as Georgia’s president from 2004 to 2013 was convicted in absentia in 2018 on charges of abuse of power and received a six-year sentence at the time. He was arrested in 2021 after secretly returning to Georgia from Ukraine.

Since his imprisonment, Saakashvili has staged multiple hunger strikes and is currently receiving treatment at the Vivamedi clinic in Tbilisi.

In addition to his existing convictions, Saakashvili still faces pending trials. One of these cases relates to events in 2007, including the violent dispersal of anti-government protests, the raid on Imedi TV, and the seizure of assets belonging to tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili.