Saakashvili in court: I had mistakes, not committed crimes, I could not sit calmly in Kyiv

Georgian former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was taken to the court today to attend a trial hearing in the case concerning him, says that he was unable to sit calmly in Ukraine and watch how ‘thousands of Georgians’ were leaving the country.

He said that more Georgians left the country in the past nine years, under the Georgian Dream leadership, than in 70 years, due to the ‘poor governance’ of the state.

He said that he made ‘many mistakes’ while in power. However, all seven charges against him were groundless as ‘I committed no crimes.’

“Georgia has never had a criminal president,” Saakashvili said.

He stated that ‘Girgvliani’s case, (referring to brutal murder of Sandro Girgvliani while Saakashvili was in power) ‘was used as a black PR stunt againts him’ and beating of opposition MP Valeri Gelashvili ‘showed no signs’ he had any offence.

Saakashvili said that the individuals convicted in Girgvliani’s case were arrested.

Speaking about November 7,2007 opposition rally dispersal in central Tbilisi, in which Saakashvili is charged with abuse of power and is attending today’s trial hearing, he said that ‘Russia stood behind the protests as Georgia was moving forward to NATO membership.’

He also said that the Interior Ministry was ‘managing the process related to the rally,’ and he was receiving information only on TV.

Saakashvili reminded the Georgian Dream government of rally dispersal in June 2019 ‘which was of a larger scale than the dispersal back in 2007,’ and July 2021 events related to Tbilisi Pride when dozens of journalists were attacked by right-wing activists.

Saakashvili was not allowed to attend  previous three trial hearings in cases concerning him because of possible provocations by the opposition activists and his health condition during hunger strike.

However, after Saakashvili called off his hunger strike on November 19, the Special Penitentiary Service transported him to attend a trial in own case earlier today.

The third president of Georgia, who is now a citizen of Ukraine and is holding an official post there, says that he returned after eight  years in political exile to remove the Georgian Dream government from power.

He was convicted in Georgia in absentia for abuse of power in two separate cases back in 2018 and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Saakashvili has also been charged with five other offences, including abuse of authority in the November 2007 rally dispersal case, embezzlement, illegal seizure of property and others.