Saakashvili draws parallel with Zelensky to dismiss embezzlement charges

Imprisoned former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship and was arrested in Tbilisi last year after eight years on political exile, has drawn a parallel between him and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Tbilisi City Court today while claiming that embezzlement charges against him are “groundless and a shame.’

 

“Just imagine after several years one to tell Zelensky: you saved the country (Ukraine) but the T-shirt you wore (during the war)  came from the budget (was embezzlement of state funds),” Saakashvili said.

 

He also stated that he was the only president which attended the funeral of late Polish President  Lech Kaczyński.

 

“We are opening Kaczyński’s monuments (the monument has recently been opened in Batumi by Georgian and Polish PMs) while I face charges for this (for the trip to Poland to attend the funeral),” Saakashvili said.

 

Saakashvili was arrested on October 1, 2021, a day before Georgian municipal elections.

 

The former president claimed he returned to help the opposition remove the Georgian Dream government from power.

 

He was convicted in absentia in Georgia back in 2018 for abuse of power and was sentenced to six years in prison, the term he is serving now.

 

Saakashvili is also charged in several other cases which are still in courts, including embezzlement of state funds, illegal seizure of property and others.