President Zourabichvili: I don’t think Saakashvili is a very important issue today

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili says that imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili is not a very important issue today, responding to the question of Foreign Policy whether she was concerned about the message that the third president’s arrest sent to the world. 

 

She said that  pardoning Saakashvili would be a matter for intense polarization in Georgia “because there is either half of the country that is as adamant on one side and probably more, a majority, against any form of pardon.” 

 

Saakashvili was arrested in Georgia in October 2021 after eight years in political exile. 

 

He has been jailed since then, stating that his health has deteriorated much.

 

The third president, who chaired the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council at that time, claimed he returned to support the opposition to change the Georgian Dream authorities via elections. 

 

However, the Georgian government said shortly after the arrest that the former president planned a coup. Now the authorities claim that Saakashvili’s goal was to take office again and then drag the county into the Russia-Ukraine war.