Court in Georgia sentences Saakashvili to nine years in prison

Tbilisi City Court has sentenced former President Mikheil Saakashvili to nine years in prison in a case of embezzlement of state funds, Mtavari Arch TV channel reported.

“Mikhail Saakashvili has been sentenced to nine years in prison in the 'jackets' case,” the TV station specified.

It is about embezzlement of more than 3.2 million dollars. The sentence was passed by Judge Badri Kochlamazashvili. Former head of the Special State Guard Service Teimuraz Janashia was also involved in the case. According to TV, the court gave him a fine of 300,000 GEL (about 100,000 dollars).

“Mikhail Saakashvili will have to serve his sentence until 2030,” Judge Kochlamazashvili said at the hearing, adding that the ex-president was credited with 3.5 years already served.

Saakashvili was charged with embezzlement of state funds in 2014, a case known in Georgia as the “Jackets Case.” The prosecution claims that the politician used state funds to buy jackets and coats during his presidency, paid for his son's education, had cosmetic procedures, rented expensive cars and an airplane, and bought wristwatches.

Saakashvili was detained in Georgia on October 1, 2021, after he returned from Ukraine. The former president is facing five criminal cases, two of which sentenced him in absentia to six years in prison. Now the Tbilisi City Court is considering three cases against him - on embezzlement of state funds, on dispersal of the protest rally on November 7, 2007 and on illegal border crossing. The verdict on the illegal border crossing case is expected to be delivered on March 14.

Reprinted from https://ria.ru/