Tbilisi City Court sentences ex-President Saakashvili to 4 years and 6 months in prison for illegally crossing state border

Tbilisi City Court on Monday sentenced the imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to 4 years and 6 months in prison for illegally crossing the state border.

Additionally, his sentence was extended by 8 years due to his prior conviction for embezzling state funds.

As a result, Saakashvili now faces a total prison term of 12 years and 6 months.

The former President did not attend the sentencing remotely from the Vivamedi clinic.

This is the second verdict against Saakashvili in recent days.

He still faces one more criminal case related to the events of November 7, 2007.

The European Court of Human Rights last year ruled that authorities in Georgia acted properly in 2014 when bringing criminal charges for abuse of power and complicity in criminal battery against Saakashvili.

The ECHR stated that “the authorities’ honest desire was to bring the applicant to justice for his wrongdoing and that, in the absence of sufficient evidence to the contrary, the allegation of an ulterior motive is unsubstantiated”.

The former President, who served from 2004 to 2013, was arrested when he returned to Georgia in October 2021 after spending seven years in self-imposed exile.