The former President of Georgia, Saakashvili, has been sentenced to 9 years in prison for corruption. The ex-leader, who is being held in custody, will remain in prison for another 5.5 years.

In the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, a verdict has been reached in the trial of former president Mikhail Saakashvili on charges of corruption. Judge Badri Kochlamazashvili announced in court that Saakashvili has been sentenced to 9 years in prison for embezzling state budget funds. The judge also stated that Teimuraz Janashia, who served as Director of the Georgian State Security Special Service during Saakashvili’s presidency, has been fined in the same case.

This marks the second prison sentence for Saakashvili, who was earlier sentenced to 6 years in prison in 2021 for abusing the pardon power in a murder case and allegedly arranging for the beating of MP Valeri Gelashvili during his presidency years. According to the court’s decision, the prison term served from October 1, 2021, until today will be considered executed, leaving Saakashvili with another 5.5 years to serve.

ARRESTED IN 2021: Saakashvili, who returned to his country after 8 years on October 1, 2021, was arrested and taken to a prison in the city of Rustavi due to outstanding imprisonment sentences against him. The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office had issued an arrest warrant for Saakashvili, accusing him of dispersing opposition rallies in 2007, seizing the assets of Badri Patarkatsishvili, founder of the Imedi TV channel, corruption, abuse of power, and arranging for an MP to be beaten. The Tbilisi City Court had sentenced Saakashvili in absentia to 6 years in prison for abusing the pardon power in a murder case and orchestrating the assault on MP Valeri Gelashvili.

HUNGER STRIKES: Following his arrest in Georgia on October 1, 2021, Saakashvili went on a 50-day hunger strike before receiving medical treatment in the city of Gori. He continued his hunger strike from February 21 to March 10, 2022. Officials from the Special Prison Service Administration, which oversees prisons in Georgia, transferred Saakashvili from Rustavi prison to the “Vivamedi” clinic in Tbilisi on May 12, 2022. Saakashvili has been detained in the clinic ever since. Maintaining his innocence, Saakashvili contends that he was arrested by the government and is a political prisoner.