UNM announces rallies, “public turmoil”, boycott to parliamentary work as court rejects ex-pres. Saakashvili’s release

Levan Khabeishvili, the newly elected head of the United National Movement – the largest opposition group in the country – on Monday announced rallies and “continues pressure” on the Georgian Dream authorities, as well as boycott to the parliamentary work, following the Tbilisi City Court ruling during the day on former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s transfer abroad on medical grounds. 

Khabeishvili claimed the current authorities had fulfilled the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s “order” by the court ruling, which rejected the motion on Saakashvili’s transportation abroad on    health grounds. 

“We have done and are doing everything to ensure that the European future of our country is not threatened. We will meet with our partners precisely because we are stopping parliamentary work, and they should know very well that we are simply forced to do so, because the health and life of president Saakashvili is at risk. Daily protests and public turmoil will be the answer to the decision facilitated by the shadow ruler [former PM, founder of the Georgian Dream ruling party] Bidzina Ivanishvili”, Khabeishvili said. 

The trial hearings on granting Saakashvili’s release on medical grounds or the postponement of the rest of his sentence were launched in December 2022, with the former official’s family and the legal team claiming his health was “utterly complicated”. 

In contrast to the claims, the state officials have pointed to Saakashvili’s engagement in “self-harm” through not-obeying the medical personnel to facilitate his “illegal release”. 

Saakashvili, who currently holds Ukrainian citizenship, was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021, after eight years in self-imposed political exile, and is now serving his six-year-sentence for abuse of power while in office.