Ruling party head of opposition: you want Saakashvili’s release to spark unrest

Irakli Kobakhidze, a head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday told the opposition lawmakers that they wished for the release of currently imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili to spark unrest in the country. 

“None of you can talk about the diagnosis and say whether Saakashvili obeys the doctors’ prescriptions and instructions. In such conditions, everything is empty speculation. You are not allowed to destroy this country. In fact, the reason you want to release Saakashvili is to disrupt the situation in the country. That is why you had brought him to Georgia”, Kobakhidze said. 

Saakashvili’s lawyers claim that their client is in “urgent need” of treatment abroad. 

The third president, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship and was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021 after eight years in political exile, chaired the executive committee of the Ukrainian national reforms council before detention.