Saakashvili denied to attend a trial hearing in embezzlement case

Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili has been denied by the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia to attend a trial hearing today which concerns the embezzlement of 8.8 million GEL while Saakashvili was in office. 

Saakashvili was demanding to attend the trial. However, the state agency said that the opposition activists could cause unrest in the streets during the transportation of the former president, and that attending the trial could further complicate Saakashvili’s health on the 46th day of his hunger strike. 

Saakashvili’s lawyers have accused the government of violating the rights of the former president for not allowing him to attend the trial hearings which involve him. 

The Special Penitentiary Service, however, says that Saakashvili can participate in the hearings online. 

With the same reasons Saakashvili was denied to attend another case trial hearing involving him last week. 

The case concerned illegal rally dispersal back in 2007. 

Saakashvili was convicted in Georgia in absentia back in 2018 for abuse of power and was sentenced to six years in prison. 

He has also been charged with five other offences, including embezzlement, illegal takeover of property and others.