UNM continues rallies in Tbilisi, protests won’t be held at Gldani prison

The United National Movement (UNM) party, which held a rally in central Tbilisi yesterday, including at the administration building of the Government of Georgia, says that rallies will take place at several locations in capital Tbilisi today. 

The UNM says that one of the demonstrations will be held in front of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. 

The party says that rallies will not take place at Gldani prison in the outskirts of Tbilisi, where the UNM founder, ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili was transferred yesterday to receive medical care. 

During the rallies the UNM will demand the transportation of Saakashvili to a civil clinic, annulment of recent municipal election results and the release of Saakashvili from prison. 

UNM head Nika Melia says that if rallies are also held at Gldani prison, the Georgian Dream government will accuse them of staging a provocation and will take steps ‘to harm’ the former president. 

Saakashvili, who is a citizen of Ukraine and currently chairs the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council, was convicted in Georgia back in 2018 for abuse of power and was sentenced to six years in prison. 

He has also been charged with illegal takeover of property, illegal rally dispersal, embezzlement and illegally crossing the border. 

Saakashvili says that he is a political prisoner and was demanding his transportation to a civil clinic. 

However, the government said that Saakashvikli and his United National Movement party had plans to cause unrest if he was transferred to a civil clinic. 

The former president says that he returned after eight years in political exile to remove the Georgian Dream from power.